Alex Baggott

Alex graduated with a scientific computing degree in 2010 and immersed himself in postgraduate research before moving into the IT sector in 2013. Today, Alex draws on his experiences in science and technology to lead a number of research projects for the team, as well as writing on a range of topics from digital marketing technology to small business advice.

Metaverse

Are we ready to enter the metaverse?

At Facebook’s Connect 2021 conference, Mark Zuckerberg made some ostensibly major proclamations.

First, a corporate restructuring: Facebook will join Instagram and WhatsApp under a new parent company called ‘Meta Platforms’, just as Google did when it became Alphabet back in 2015. Second, Zuckerberg spent most of his arguably cringey keynote outlining his vision of the next generation of the web, the ‘metaverse’.

What is the metaverse?

The term metaverse is a portmanteau of ‘meta’ (beyond) and ‘universe’. Today, the concept represents an embodied internet comprising a network of shared computer-generated environments, where avatars interact in a 3D virtual space. But the term was originally coined in the popular 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and has since expanded to include XR.

Zuckerberg sees the metaverse as the natural successor to the mobile web, where you’re immersed in the digital experience, instead of merely viewing it on a video screen. Since 2D screens can’t fully convey body language and facial expressions, the idea is to accurately recreate the feeling of being physically present, to make virtual interactions with others seem more natural.

While romping through cyberspace à la Ready Player One may sound intriguing, how exactly will it become part of our lives? Here are just five use cases which could become daily activities in the metaverse.

Gaming

Video games have a tendency to drive advances in computing tech, so it’s no surprise that gaming is how most of us will first enter the metaverse. There are now hundreds of VR games using headsets (e.g. Valve Index, HTC Vive Pro 2 and PlayStation VR), as well as countless AR games using smartphone camera systems. While gaming may drive most of the fundamental technology advances, it can’t provide anything near a working metaverse. VR experiences almost always take place in closed environments, rather than connected spaces, and AR games are bound to small 2D screens, instead of immersing the player’s senses. For his part, Zuckerberg predicts that gaming in the metaverse will require continual evolution, with live service games offering regular updates and downloadable content.

Work

With some element of remote working here to stay, the focus now is on hybrid working. However, this makes the workplace more complex. In-person meetings – which have evolved to include some or all of the team joining via videoconferencing – could evolve further. For instance, holographic avatars could provide a virtual presence in the workplace without the commute, while enabling you to “share” physical space and interact with others.

Employees can use their own individual space for minimising distractions, and can also join shared spaces with other team members for activities such as presentations. Facebook’s own Oculus Quest 2 launched Horizon Workrooms in August 2021, and is set to introduce room customisations and new developer frameworks, which will enable this virtual space to integrate with existing internet services and 2D websites.

Ecommerce

Many retail brands have already seen success using AR tools. As far back as 2017, IKEA launched their Place app, allowing customers to render furniture inside their home and assess how it looks on their smartphone. Trying on clothes virtually is also on the horizon, with future shopping potentially involving putting on smartglasses rather than driving to a store. Zuckerberg predicts that digital purchases (items which only exist in virtual space) will become more valuable as the metaverse takes off, with transferability and authentication technologies, such as NFTs, becoming more important.

Education

While learning certainly involves the study of information, many fields naturally require extensive practical (in-person) training. However, the metaverse has the potential to assimilate some of this physical activity. For example, trainee mechanics could use a combined AR schematic and service manual to repair a vehicle. Zuckerberg points to Osso VR which simulates surgery, and the Alchemy Immersive course which allows marine biologist students to virtually swim through the Great Barrier Reef (whilst listening to the dulcet tones of David Attenborough). Meta is also assigning $150 million to train educational content developers and establish a professional curriculum with a certification process for those building it using Spark AR (Facebook’s AR toolkit).

Fitness

With most of us already sold on the idea of exercising at home, a round of convincing virtual boxing, sword fighting, or dancing could be a welcome enhancement. Facebook is releasing a fitness accessory pack for Quest 2, including controller grips and a wipe-clean facial interface.

Facebook’s sleight of (haptic) hand?

Facebook currently faces criticism amid leaked documents (dubbed the “Facebook Papers”) and exposure by former product manager, Francs Haugen, who claimed the company prioritises its profits over the wellbeing of its users. And these are just two events in a string of governmental and privacy investigations. Sceptics might say the timing of Zuckerberg’s Meta announcements is a way of distracting the public from PR issues (and perhaps redirecting those pesky federal fines), rather than heralding an imminent technological shift.

Of course, XR environments have failed before – think Second Life and Google Glass. But were they simply too early? Zuckerberg himself admits the metaverse is a way off. But as building-block technologies improve, and are adopted by younger generations, perhaps it’s only a matter of time before the metaverse is upon us.

In part two, we’ll look at the technologies which need to be built before the metaverse can materialise.

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Welcome to the data party

Where’s the data party right now?

The difference between zero-, first-, second-, and third-party data

Data is incredibly valuable to marketers, agencies, and publishers, since it is used to power advertising models and generate revenue. And the amount of data we produce is accelerating. The global volume of data reached 64.2 zettabytes in 2020, and this is predicted to double by 2025.

However, privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, have made data an increasingly difficult resource to tap. In response, the online advertising industry has developed different classifications of data to help with the handling process. So, what do the terms zero-, first-, second-, and third-party data mean?

Four-party state

The ad tech industry uses four different classifications of data, depending on the degree of separation from the source of information.

Zero-party data

This relatively new term describes data which is willingly shared directly with the recipient, e.g., a customer who bought a sneaker submitting a survey to the brand. Arguably, this is a type of first-party data, the distinction being that it’s intentionally handed over rather than automatically collected.

Zero-party data also refers to edge computing ad solutions, where data is processed on-device rather than transmitted elsewhere online. This protects user privacy by minimising the data collected, while still allowing behavioural targeting and personalised ads, thereby circumventing legal restrictions on the amount of data allowed to be sent to the bidstream.

First-party data

Data which is gathered directly, for instance from customers, visitors, or social media followers. This includes information from email interactions and behaviours on a website or app. First-party data differs from second- or third-party data in that there is no intermediary between the supplier and the recipient of the information.

First-party data includes first-party cookies and advertising IDs which identify individual visitors, such as GAID, IDFA, and UID. Identity solutions use these IDs to track user behaviour while they interact with a website or app, in order to serve behavioural and contextual ads. However, targeted ads relying on first-party data alone can be sub-optimal, since their reach is limited to information from a single platform or site.

Second-party data

This refers to data collected from a partner who has in turn gathered it directly from visitors or customers. Although the data is supplied by another agent, the distinction made from its close third-party relative is that second-party data is sourced from a trusted partner, with whom there is a direct agreement on how the information is to be exchanged and used. The transaction takes place in a closed environment, such as a data cooperative, or a data “clean room” which provides the utmost security and privacy. Second-party data is usually used to periodically enrich first-party data to gain insights.

As with zero-party, there is some contention over the term ‘second-party data’, and the disagreement makes its definition a little woolly. In fact, when the Winterberry Group asked industry experts for the definition, responses ranged from “someone else’s first-party data”, to “there is no such thing”. After pinning down some specifics, the researchers proposed that any commercialisation or licensing of second-party data transforms its state into third-party. But this is by no means a hard-and-fast rule.

Third-party data

This pertains to any data received indirectly, via an intermediary agent who is not the original source. In ad tech, this data is usually gathered, aggregated, and packaged to be sold to companies to build advertising strategies.

Third-party data has historically been the most sought after in personalised advertising, allowing one-to-one retargeting of an online user. This can be achieved via cross-tracking cookies, where a user’s profile follows them online and is appended with data from each site they visit. Knowing so much about a user enables hyper-targeted ads to be served to them. However, third-party data now sees the most legal scrutiny due to the privacy implications of tracking users so closely across different sites, hence the phasing-out of third-party cookies.

So… where’s the party?

If all this has left you confused about the classification of data, you’re not alone. The rise of zero-party data, and the explosion of second-party data, are a result of initiatives by the industry to avoid falling foul of privacy regulations while retaining access to sources of data which make advertising models effective. In the age of big data, just make sure you know the legal requirements when handling it, so you can avoid having your party busted.

Image courtesy of Joshua Sortino

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