{"id":67264,"date":"2023-02-24T00:06:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T05:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=67264"},"modified":"2023-02-24T00:06:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T05:06:21","slug":"five-emerging-trends-that-could-change-our-lives-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/five-emerging-trends-that-could-change-our-lives-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Five emerging trends that could change our lives online"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The way we live our lives online is rapidly changing. Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality and innovations such as blockchain \u2013 a kind of digital record for transactions \u2014 are set to transform the online world, affecting everything from social media to how people and businesses make money from their creativity.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re feeling confused by the pace of change, here\u2019s what you need to know about five trends on the cusp of making a major impact.<\/p>\n

1. Generative AI<\/strong><\/h4>\n

AI and the more specific field of machine learning (where software improves at a task with experience) are already used to\u00a0personalise the recommendations<\/a>\u00a0we get when we shop online, in digital assistants like Alexa and for automated translation of text. The uses for this technology are\u00a0only likely to grow<\/a>. There are some innovative uses of AI by businesses that may point to how people will be using the technology in future.<\/p>\n

The AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT is a high-profile example.\u00a0Microsoft recently invested US$10 billion (\u00a38.2 billion) investment in the chatbot\u2019s parent company<\/a>\u00a0showing how seriously these online tools are being taken.<\/p>\n

It was seen by some journalists as the start of an\u00a0\u201cAI war\u201d<\/a>\u00a0between Microsoft and Google. The latter company has been\u00a0incorporating AI into its search engine<\/a>\u00a0to improve the answers people get.\u00a0Jasper.ai<\/a>\u00a0is another forward-thinking use of AI. This online service generates written content for blogs, social media posts and letters.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Meta, the company that owns Facebook, is working on AI-powered software that can generate video from a text prompt, such as\u00a0\u201cteddy bear painting a portrait\u201d<\/a>. This is regarded as the next step on from online tools that generate images from text, such as\u00a0DALL-E<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Stable Diffusion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. The metaverse<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The\u00a0\u201cmetaverse\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is intended to make the online world more like the real one, through the use of\u00a0virtual reality<\/a>\u00a0(VR) headsets. Instead of interacting with a two-dimensional profile on social media, you would don your VR headset to be represented by an\u00a0avatar in a 3D virtual world<\/a>. Your avatar would be able to communicate with other ones in a space modelled on the real world. Online shops could take the form of 3D virtual spaces so customers could browse in much the same way they would in their everyday lives.<\/p>\n

A new wave of advanced VR headsets could help facilitate the metaverse. These could include advanced features such as eye tracking \u2014 which can make interactions with 3D worlds more instant and realistic \u2014 and\u00a0facial expression detection<\/a>, which would ensure 3D avatars replicate their users\u2019 demeanours.\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0and Qualcomm are developing new VR headsets that could launch in 2023, but details of their features are being kept under wraps.<\/p>\n

YouTube<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Meta<\/a>\u00a0are both building libraries of\u00a0360-degree video<\/a>\u00a0and images, as well as computer-generated objects and\u00a0backgrounds<\/a>\u00a0that can be used to build the 3D environments that your avatar would explore in these virtual worlds.<\/p>\n

3. Digital certificates<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The owners of 360-degree video and computer-generated landscapes designed for use in the metaverse will want to sell their digital creations. To prevent unauthorised use, a kind of token called an NFT can provide these items of digital content with certificates of authenticity and ownership.<\/p>\n

These\u00a0non-fungible tokens<\/a>\u00a0allow the content to be bought and sold with confidence, something that\u2019s increasingly happening with the use of cryptocurrency. In 2022, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all introduced NFTs to their user and advertiser bases.\u00a0Visa<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mastercard<\/a>\u00a0have also made buying NFTs possible with their credit and debit cards.<\/p>\n

Despite a recent\u00a0drop in the NFT market<\/a>,\u00a0forecasts by the US stock exchange Nasdaq<\/a>\u00a0suggest the tokens could perform well in 2023.<\/p>\n

4. Blockchain<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A kind of digital record, or ledger, called a\u00a0blockchain<\/a>\u00a0could help underpin private networks of people online, providing a safe space for them free from trolls, stalkers and fraud. Permission to view information can be restricted to a small number of people and the record of activity provided by blockchain can\u2019t be changed. This means any unauthorised activity on the network is instantly traceable.<\/p>\n

And because information is stored across a network of computers rather than a single server, it is more difficult to hack. An example of an emerging type of online community that could make use of blockchain is a\u00a0DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation)<\/a>. These networks have discarded the top-down management used elsewhere in favour of a more democratic form of governance with no central authority.<\/p>\n

A social platform called Mastodon shares many aspects with DAOs. It was recently in the news when\u00a0more than a million users<\/a>\u00a0fled Twitter to the platform in the wake of Elon Musk\u2019s takeover.<\/p>\n

5. \u2018Workfluencers\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Businesses have taken note of the rise of social media influencers and are adopting their approach to reach target audiences. They are making use of\u00a0what\u2019s called an employee advocate, or \u201cworkfluencer\u201d<\/a>. Companies have realised that employees\u2019 social media profiles and posts may better convey the brand than corporate accounts.<\/p>\n

When crafted thoughtfully, social media posts by employees can seem significantly more authentic to other users than corporate PR. People have grown more honest about day-to-day work life, rather than only producing stories on professional milestones and achievements.<\/p>\n

Organisations are likely to build procedures to encourage teams and employees to communicate and distribute material on the company\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/strong>Theo Tzanidis is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at the University of the West of Scotland<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The way we live our lives online is rapidly changing. Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality and innovations such as blockchain \u2013 a kind of digital record for transactions \u2014 are set to transform the online world, affecting everything from social media to how people and businesses make money from their creativity. If you\u2019re feeling confused […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[434303],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-67264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-tech","tag-online-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive emerging trends that could change our lives online - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/five-emerging-trends-that-could-change-our-lives-online\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five emerging trends that could change our lives online - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The way we live our lives online is rapidly changing. 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