Similar to the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 19th Century, we are going through a revolution. This revolution, however, is with the World Wide Web. This one is called the Web 2.0, and it describes how the Internet is changing in the ways people use it. Essentially, it is the way businesses and individuals recognize the strength of the Internet and use it as their platform. The definition was coined in 2004 by Tim O\'Reilly because he saw businesses building services based on the Internet\'s features rather than fighting the Internet. While many people still are learning about Web 2.0, there are many businesses that already capture the essence of Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 symbolizes the shift in how people use the Internet. People who use the Internet solely for informational purposes are said to be using Web 1.0. If you use the Internet for interactive purposes, then you are using the Web 2.0. The Internet no longer was a single-level tool, but instead a complex platform upon which there are no limits. Businesses were taking advantage of this limitless platform because of the increased results they were seeing.

Another aspect of Web 2.0 has to deal with the connectivity available online today. The majority of this is done through hyperlinking. People add new content to their sites on a daily basis and as people find this, they link it back to their own sites. Even larger sites are doing this, one of the reasons why O\'Reilly believes they survived the Web 1.0 era.

Google became the leading search engine by using this link technology to rank their search results. Another connectivity aspect of Web 2.0 is through the user participation. Users are now encouraged to add their own content to sites. This is completely different from the traditional method of the host being the only one able to change it.

Examples of successful Web 2.0 sites include Google AdSense, Flickr, blogging and Wikipedia. There also are different levels of Web 2.0, based on the inter-human connections and Internet-only existences. Sites such as eBay, Craigslist and Skype are in O\'Reilly\'s Web 2.0 highest level. These sites depend solely upon user interaction. The levels go down to a zero level, which works online and offline. These include map and direction sites such as MapQuest.

There has been and still is controversy surrounding the mere existence of Web 2.0. Critics say it is a continuation of the existing concepts, not a new web.