What is Web 2.0?

We explain what Web 2.0 is and what is the origin of this term. In addition, the different tools you use.

1. What is Web 2.0?

When we talk about Web 2.0 or the Social Web, we refer to a model of Web pages that facilitate the transmission of information , interoperability and collaboration among its users , through a design focused on their needs, rather than those of the company . In other words, it is a trend on the Internet that advocates a more interactive, less unilateral network, in which users do not occupy a merely passive role.

Web 2.0  is a step forward in the evolution of the Internet , to incorporate the user as an active agent in its operation, and not as a mere client or receiver of information. This happens through dynamic websites, in which the user is allowed to interact, generate content, or be part of virtual communities .

The term originated in 2004 , the product of Tim O’Reilly’s conference on the future of the Internet, and plays with the usual name for computer programs (1.0, 1.1., 1.2, 2.0, etc.) as they are updated and improve. However, it does not really refer to a technical improvement of the network , as to a different way of understanding it.

Some examples of Web 2.0 pages are social networks , wiki, Internet sales pages or other collaborative projects in which users must generate content and not simply consume it.

All of them have in common a disposition towards interactivity and the construction of a sense of community among people who may be unknown or thousands of kilometers away.

2. Web 2.0 Tools

2.0 tools are those programs or websites available to carry out certain functions within the Internet, and that can be applied to other vital aspects, such as learning or teaching . Some examples of this are:

• Social networks . Virtual communities in which remote people can communicate in real time in writing (chat), can have their information publicly and connect with other people who share their interests, their history or their desires (even romantic).
• Wikis . Sites of free access to information through the voluntary accumulation of knowledge, in the manner of old encyclopedias, but this time organized in a collaborative way: each user contributes their grain of sand.
• Blogs . Single or group pages that serve as a newspaper, publication or literary text, to share various forms of text and story (including audiovisual) using the tools of the Internet and also receiving  feedback  from readers or followers.
• Video hosting sites . The best known of them is YouTube, a platform where users can upload different audiovisual content and share opinions, comments and tastes on the subject, or also become announcers and commentators called “youtubers”.
• Online sales pages . Services not only for sale, but for the exchange of opinions between buyers and for contact with companies that offer goods or services. The best known of all are Amazon and eBay.
• Podcasts .  The radio has not died, but exists on the web 2.0, under the podcast format: broadcasts stored online that allow the user to listen to them whenever and wherever, often offering knowledge, tutorials or simply leisure programs.
• Presentations online . Inspired by the PowerPoint program, these pages offer presentation preparation services, for expository purposes for companies , schools and universities, allowing the use of the audiovisual and multimedia potential of the Internet in various everyday areas.
• Conceptual and mental maps . Another popular service in Web 2.0, especially for study purposes: the pages that offer the possibility of online flowcharts, concept maps and other learning techniques or visual explanation of content. Some known are Mindmeister, Coggle.it and Mindomo.