WPP is out with a new report that takes a stab at forecasting how data usage will transform over the next decade.
Not surprisingly, the existing ocean of data
will be perhaps six or seven times bigger than it is today, although regulation will limit access to personal data so that software and marketing companies will develop models using less data but more
efficiently.
Media business models will evolve, and social platforms will become what the report calls the “newest category of publishers” by 2030. By then governments will be
holding them responsible for the content they host.
“Along with digital services such as maps, storage and search, social platforms will also use paywall models. This trend is already
emerging in 2020 as social influencers begin to charge for content,” according to the report.
Subscription-based bundles of digital services included in the provision of internet access
will be common, the report predicts. But while the era of free internet might be over, the good news is that most if not all of the fake news and trolling so characteristic of the early 21st century
will likely be gone as well.
“By 2030 the battle between a free-for-all internet and a monitored environment will be over," notes the report. "Social platforms will block fake news and
tweak their algorithms to avoid the recommendation spiral of increasingly extreme content."
Check out more from the report here.