From metaverse games to serious customer insight

Enthusiasm for the metaverse as a business asset seems to have cooled down a bit. OK, a lot. At least, judging by Google searches for the term. Nonetheless, if there’s one area where the Metaverse is still promising to deliver business value is in terms of generating customer insight. The combination of technologies such as … Continue reading From metaverse games to serious customer insight

New research grant: The role of consumers in driving UK manufacturing’s digital transformation

I am delighted to share the news that I am part of group that has just secured funding from ESRC’s InterAct initiative. The project is entitled “The role of consumers in driving UK manufacturing’s digital transformation” and aims to identify the factors that lead consumers to adopt new Everything as a Service (XaaS) models of consumption of … Continue reading New research grant: The role of consumers in driving UK manufacturing’s digital transformation

Rethinking existential risk from AI

In a recent interview on Lex Friedman’s podcast, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was asked whether he worried about the existential threat presented by the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. He replied: “My own view is that, where we really need to be careful is on the development of autonomy, and how you think about that… … Continue reading Rethinking existential risk from AI

Implications of open vs closed metaverses for users and developers

In the June issue of MISQ Executive, Mary Lacity, Jeffrey K. Mullins and Le Kuai reflect on the evolution of Metaverse. The paper, which takes the form of an interview, is entitled “Evolution of the Metaverse”, and can be found here. Me, as ProfAbobora, on Roblox Since last summer, I have been doing some work about … Continue reading Implications of open vs closed metaverses for users and developers

The importance of focusing on a target segment (and how to decide which one)

In episode 11 of season 11 of the Marketing Companion, Mark Schaefer and his guest, Jay Acunzo, discuss “the meaning of brand and personal relevance in a world exploding with new creative output”. Their discussion is focused on content creation, but the points that they cover are relevant well beyond this application. For instance, they … Continue reading The importance of focusing on a target segment (and how to decide which one)

In search for evidence of ChatGPT’s user experiences and perceptions

Last week, I did a presentation at the University of Birmingham, related to the paper “Snakes and Ladders: Unpacking the Personalisation-Privacy Paradox in the Context of AI-Enabled Personalisation in the Physical Retail Environment”, with Brendan Keegan and Maria Ryzhikh. In that paper, we report on the results of a study which looked at young female … Continue reading In search for evidence of ChatGPT’s user experiences and perceptions

What if AI was your customer? Some thoughts on LLMs as medical patients

Some time ago I read a paper by Ming-Hui Huang and Roland T. Rust where they introduced the idea of AI as a customer. In the paper appropriately titled “AI as customer”, which was published in the Journal of Service Management, Huang and Rust present the idea that AI, in addition to being used to … Continue reading What if AI was your customer? Some thoughts on LLMs as medical patients

What Twitter’s Blue Tick says about the value of symbols and authentication

Last Thursday (20th April 2023), Twitter began removing the blue ticks from formerly verified users who had failed to subscribe to the new Twitter Blue service. The blue tick was once a symbol of “authenticity”, confirming that the holder of that account was indeed the person or institution referred to in the name or description of the account. Moreover, … Continue reading What Twitter’s Blue Tick says about the value of symbols and authentication

A brief history of TripAdvisor’s evolution – or how social media-users are key, yet unpaid, enablers of the business model of social media platforms

Last week, Child 1 and I watched the Lehman Brothers trilogy, a play that traces the story of the three Lehman brothers, and their descendants, who created the (in)famous Bank of the same name. Their business empire didn’t start as a Bank, though. Rather, it started as a textiles’ trader which went on to become … Continue reading A brief history of TripAdvisor’s evolution – or how social media-users are key, yet unpaid, enablers of the business model of social media platforms