The Web has rapidly changed the way we work and interact with the internet. From an information-only Web 1.0, it moved to the enriched and dynamic internet as we know it today. We distinguish a number of key trends in the current web.

The most popular and successful part of the web is better known as web 2.0 or the Social Web. The most well-known example is crowdsourcing such as

wikis where communities create and enhance knowledge socially. Folksnomies allow people to tag all kinds of information, pages, people, and websites to influence knowledge. We see social networking applications move from sharing personal and professional interests to also social marketing and shopping trends. And of course we should not forget the mention of blogs, vlogs and microblogs like Twitter in this aspect.

The second trend allows consumers and end-users to interact more effectively with the web through multi-devices as well as interact through voice, image, and video rather than just text. We also see the rise of RIA and DRIA desktop web client architectures.

The third trend is all about integration standardization of applications inside and outside the enterprise and premises through SOA, SaaS and cloud computing. Mashups help building and turning ideas quicker into new applications. Integration standardization is also about data and being able to obtain more information through connecting and relating different data sources. Semantic Web or also known as web 3.0 is helping us and opening the front-door to Intelligence Web.

However, these trends have diverged and we see the future converging these trends. We see the first signs of the first integrated semantic social applications showing up. Also, non-PC internet devices are slowly becoming more popular than PC browsers and user interaction with web continues to be enriched. The final convergence results to the Pervasive Web which not only connects us seamlessly to information, but will also learns itself and make decisions for us.  A few years still to wait…