Web 2.0 is a loosely defined set of web development techniques that allow users to interact and collaborate online through social media and user-generated content. It originated from a term coined in 1999 and allows users to do more than just retrieve information through their browsers. Common Web 2.0 techniques include RSS/Atom feeds, AJAX, LAMP servers, CSS/XML, peer-to-peer applications, and Flash which enable features like searching, linking, authoring, tagging, and extending websites through third-party applications.