The Metaverse was a big topic at 2023 SXSW, with presenters sharing plans on how people will implement it in the future.
At a panel titled “The Metaverse Mindset for Web3, AI, and the Future of Business,” Sandy Carter, senior vice president of Unstoppable Domains, highlighted the advancements of the Metaverse, Web3, and AI. She began with the definition of the Metaverse—a digital world where people can live, work, interact, play, and have a social presence from anywhere and at any time.
She said that the “Metaverse mindset” consists of five different ideas: forward-looking; engaging, immersive experiences; people are the center of the Metaverse; digital identity as a human right; and AI as a partner.
Carter said that a digital identity is a Web3 identity that travels with you throughout the Metaverse. It differs from Web2 in that you own it and your data. “It is, in essence, the way you transact, the way you share information about yourself,” she said. “It represents who you are.”
Carter explained the concepts. Web1 is considered the information economy where it is only someone’s login information, she said. Web2 is dubbed the platform economy, where a user would sign in with a Google account, Facebook account, or other types of social media, Carter said. Web3 is called the ownership economy, where a user would use a single ID to access multiple applications with their digital identity, she said.
Later in the presentation, Carter described a digital identity, bringing up an image of a profile that looks like a profile for a social media account. The digital identity’s profile contains an avatar, domain, token gallery, an area that displays what information a user is allowing to share when they log into an application, and more.
Carter said this profile would allow users to manage their data privacy settings. “So, if I don’t want someone to get my email, I don’t have to share my email. If I don’t want someone to know where I am located, I don’t have to share that as well.”