Elizabeth Feng

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If you have worked in marketing, user operations, or any other user-related positions, you definitely have worked with Google Analytics already in your past career. Google Analytics 4, or GA4 is the new version of Google Analytics. After its first release in 2020, Google announced that it would gradually make universal analytics (current GA) obsolete by the end of June 2023. The reason for Google to change is mainly related to user privacy and cross-device data management. There are huge changes in user tracking, 3rd party data usage, mobile and desktop cross-tracking, and user interface. I will primarily focus on privacy in this article.

Is GA4 GDPR compliant?

Yes…but not quiet.

As you may know, the current Google analytics still store user data on US-based servers, which makes it not GDPR compliant by default. In fact, the Italian data authority discovered that Google was illegally transferring EU user data to the U.S (Italian SA, 2022.) GA 4 in a way is set up to comply with GDPR where the company can limit and disable user information from getting tracked (Google, 2022). However, Google has not clarified if the platform will utilize personal data and sends it outside the European privacy jurisdiction.

Third-party vs First-party cookies

Another privacy-focus enhancement from GA4 is that Google will completely remove third-party cookies.

What are first-party cookies? First-party cookies are essential cookies the site owners track on users and have been put by the site owners. On the other hand, third-party cookies are those that track user behaviours across websites and follow browsing activities. An example of third-party cookies is Honey, a plug-in that automatically finds users the best coupon to use on e-commerce for free. In return, user browsing activities are getting used or sold by Honey.

Google claims to remedy these lost data for platform users through machine learning and statistical modelling, but it has not disclosed any further information. What do you think? Can companies work their ways out to better monitor their users? How can data monetizer such as honey and other browser plug-Ins sustain their business model with the changes on third-party cookies?

Reference

Google: Garante privacy stop all’uso degli analytics. Dati trasferiti Negli USA Senza adeguate garanzie. (2022). Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.gpdp.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9782874#english

Privacy controls in Google Analytics – analytics help. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9019185#zippy=%2Cin-this-article

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GameFi, also known as Play-to-Earn games essentially combine Gaming and Finance using Blockchain technology. Similarly, SocialFi, also known as Move-to-Earn apps combine social activities and Finance. Web 3.0 players are no strangers to these concepts as they have existed since the popularity of cryptocurrencies. However, 2022 was a big year for Game-Fi and Soci-fi with more and more traditional industries pouring investments into these emerging activities. In this article, I will discuss how the two business models contribute to the growth of blockchain and NFTs, with a focus on StepN, a Web 3.0 lifestyle app.

The attractiveness of Social-Fi comes from the “earning” perspective. By playing games and being active on the app, users are able to receive income either from in-app token rewards, staking, or minting NFTs from the platform marketplaces. When users receive tokens, they will be able to trade these tokens or derivatives on supported crypto exchanges. The games are normally simple and easy to play, with a twist of NFT integration. For example, in StepN, users first need the NFT sneakers to start earning STEPN, the native token of the platform. After getting a pair of the sneakers, users will be able to earn STEPN by exercising, such as walking, HITT, etc. You now may ask: How do you buy the NFT sneakers? The answer is it all happens on Solana’s NFT marketplace. Solana Blockchain also powers the Social-Fi app StepN so it ensures all users can figure out all activities in one ecosystem.

According to Cointelegraph, by September 2022, over half of the blockchain industry are being used for Gaming (Fortis, 2022). The crypto industry has definitely shifted from simple token and derivatives exchanges to a more beginner-friendly society. However, hackers are targeting these platform with the increasing amount of less crypto-educated users joining the projects. Axie Infinity is one of the biggest GameFi project, but AXIE holders have become easy phishing tagets on telegram because they are relatively new to the industry. Additionally, it has suffer multiple security breaches where users lose millions worth of tokens (NBCUniversal News Group, 2022). Therefore, more educations are definitely necessary for GameFi to penetrated in a broader audience. Meanwhile, projects need to enhance security operations to prevent such events from happening.

References:

Fortis, S. (2022, September 2). Gaming makes up over half of blockchain industry usage, DappRadar. Cointelegraph. Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://cointelegraph.com/news/gaming-makes-up-over-half-of-blockchain-industry-usage-dappradar

NBCUniversal News Group. (2022, April 10). Axie Infinity Hack leaves players shaken – but still loyal. NBCNews.com. Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/crypto/axie-infinity-hack-leaves-players-shaken-still-loyal-rcna23379

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