Web 2 came about due to the changing trends in the use of the World Wide Web. They described it as technology and web design that aimed to enhance communications, creativity, secure information sharing and functionality of the web. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it doesn’t refer to an update to any technical specifications, instead its changes in the ways that software developers and people use the web. According to Tim O’Reilly “Web 2 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform” Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), has questioned whether you can use the term in a meaningful way, since most of the technological components have existed since the beginning of the web.

Web 2 has led to the development and evolution of web culture and communities services. I.e. social networking sites, video sharing sites, blogs and wikis. O’Reilly split sites into his four levels in the hierarchy.
Level 3 applications – Exist only on the internet, i.e. eBay, Wikipedia, Skype
Level 2 applications - Can operate offline but gain advantages from going online. I.e. Flicker
Level 1 applications – Operate offline but gain features online. I.e. now days would refer to iTunes
Level 0 applications – work as well offline as online. I.e. yahoo Local, Google maps
(Non-web applications like email, instant messaging and telephone fall outside the above hierarchy).
Web 2 allows users to build on the interactive facilities of web 1 instead of just being able to retrieve information. The website are also more friendly to use and can handle more than a few people looking at them at once

So overall web 2 lets a user personalise their space and voice their opinions for the world to see and read and respond to if they want, this has revolutionised the way the internet has been used and to this day is still being used and relied upon even more. Web 2 has given everyone their own space on the net and many new ways to communicate with each other i.e. Msn, Face book, MySpace which are all sites designed for communicating and sharing which means that by logging on or using the internet you are never alone because you can always communicate with someone even if they are miles away or in a different country the internet connects people