In class we learned about what makes Big Data so valuable. The short answer is it can provide information when extracted, this can only be done if the right tools are used however. On the surface, unstructured data has no value unless it is extracted and compared.
We learned about Meta, the company that owns many social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The physical assets the company is estimated to be worth between 30 and 40 billion dollars. However, with the inclusion of intangible assets the total value of the company skyrockets to between 600 and 700 billion dollars. Obviously this figure isn't entirely data, but a lot of this wealth is generated by user data. Companies will pay money for this data, and actually make a profit from it.
The value of data arises when it is sold to advertisers and data miners, where data will be consolidated into databases and used to create demographics. When the value is extracted, targeted adverts can be recommended to users who show interest in similar products. The irony is, a lot of these adverts will be shown on sites like Facebook or Instagram causing the process to repeat itself.
While data may not hold physical value, the information given when extracted properly is. It's true what they say, knowledge is power. Forecasts have predicted that Big Data alone will surpass 500 billion dollars by 2027, valued approximately the same as the GDP of The United Arab Emirates. How cool is that?
The value of data has many applications and can be generated/used in:
- Business (E-commerce, marketing, fraud detection, inventory management)
- Society (Education, government, crime)
- Science (Healthcare, astronomy, AI, new technologies)
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