There’s been a lot of talk about Web 3.0 lately, and I think it’s important that we take a step back and consider that maybe we’ve skipped a step. Web 2.0 has definitely changed, so where are we right now and what’s going to happen in the near future?

When social networks sites launched like a firestorm, we heralded the age of Web 2.0 and basked in it’s glory. We could talk to our friends and see exactly what they were doing and when they were doing it. Finding friends became easier too, and it seemed like the Internet, as vast as it is, became just a bit smaller. Friendster became MySpace and now it’s Facebook, the Internet business had been revitalized and everyone took notice. Websites were being bought out as people realized that the web offered huge profit gains.

But now Web 2.0 is old news, and the visionaries are looking forward at Web 3.0. Labeled as everything from “an environment consisting of intelligent web-based semantic applications and desktops” to “it’s a different way of building applications”, the future of Web 3.0 seems like it still might be a while away.

With all this forward gazing, we seemed to miss where we are right now. It’s obvious that Web 2.0 is changing. Although, the sudden upsurge in sites like Twitter and FriendFeed and BrightKite makes some think otherwise the proof of the evolution of Web 2.0 into something else is inherent from these sites. If we’re not at Web 3.0, but instead at some stage of Web 2.0, I think it’s fair to say that we’re at Web 2.5.

Web 2.5 is the breaking down of technological boundaries in relations to social networking, connectivity, and mobility. The power of tweeting from your cell phone, watching YouTube videos on your TV, and tracking your friends via mobile, show a growth in the Internet beyond the boundaries of a PC or Laptop. Mobile Web and convergence IS Web 2.5, harnessing the power of the Internet and turning the network into a blanket.

The evolution of Web 2.5 has been on-going for many years, since the introduction of .mobi, the addition of mobile ads, and the interest in mobile integration with sites like Facebook. It’s not till recently, has the average consumer fully embraced mobile web and demanded it.

With the constant evolution of the Internet news of increased mobile connectivity breaks almost daily. But what used to be just a focus on mobility has changed to an increase in different types of hardware. Access to the net has changed from desktop to laptop to TV to mobile phone to gaming platforms and ever on.

So as so many consider the allure of Web 3.0, not many ask where we are and what does tomorrow hold. How will mobile web continue to grow, when will it become faster and stable? What’s the next big thing that the Internet will show up on?

Already the cell phone industry has started to take note of the interest in mobile web, allowing for wifi and instant net access, but even now connectivity is spotty and not all phones have the feature. Some providers even disable features in fear that they’ll lose revenue by allowing open access instead of through a plan determined by the company.

Manufacturers have begun exploring different places to display the web, everywhere from your tabletop to a pair of sunglasses.

Website owners understand the need for mobile content, and a mobile site. How long before people are comfortable enough to make purchases from their cell phones? Is there a possibility for you to pay for things at the grocery store through mobile paypal tied to your phone? The future of Web 2.5 is coming quickly.

What do you think? Does mobile web, and technological convergence deserve it’s own term of Web 2.5 or would you label it something else, if at all.