HBR Insights Web3, Crypto, and Blockchain Collection (3 Books)

7 WEB3 IS OUR CHANCE TO MAKE A BETTER INTERNET

by Li Jin and Katie Parrott

One of the most powerful narratives surrounding Web3 is that it is a movement toward a better, fairer internet. Specifically, Web3 proponents envision an internet in which users can wrest back power from a small number of extractive, centralized institutions, and in which everyone with an internet connection can participate on a level playing field.

But Web2, the current era of the internet defined by companies built on proprietary data (such as Facebook and Google), started with a similar promise of empowering individual creators and removing intermediaries—a promise left unfulfilled. Now, standing at the precipice of a new era, we should ask ourselves: Is Web3 actually ...