The Web is evolving at a rapid pace. In 2001 there was the crash and only a few years later Web 2.0 rose to become the dominant meme pushing the Internet into new frontiers.

During a Web 2.0 Summit talk, Tim O’Reilly talked about one of the emerging areas he calls “harnessing the collective intelligence.” This is a “far broader” understanding of user generated content, said O’Reilly. It is the basis of what many are calling the semantic Web and although the direct link wasn’t made, I suspect O’Reilly’s talk was inspiration for the New York Times to throw the term Web 3.0 out in a piece this Saturday.

In O’Reilly’s post Craig Kaplan said:

“Web 2.0 is just the froth before the wave. I believe networks of super intelligent cognitive communities are our future.”

Perhaps it is a bit early to start throwing around “Web 3.0” — many people are still grappling with 2.0 — but certainly finding a way to harness user generated content, as opposed to letting it run wild, is a step in a new direction. Like most things the 3.0 turn will happen without anyone taking notice and the watershed moment will only be decided after the wave crashes.