Akram Atallah is CEO of Donuts Inc., a global leader in next-generation top-level domains and digital identity.
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Facebook recently announced its rebrand to Meta as part of the metaverse, its bid toward a newfound digital reality. This nod to science fiction merges digital and real-world identities, combining social media with gaming, augmented reality and cryptocurrency for a hybridized and integrated user experience.
Though still in its infancy, the metaverse raises many questions about the future of digital identities and authenticity online. Among the most pressing: How can individuals and businesses represent themselves authentically online, and what does digital identity mean in this next iteration of the internet, where the line between physical and digital is blurred?
Here’s what digital identity is, how it’s evolving as metaverse momentum continues to build and what you need to know as an individual or organization.
Exploring Digital Identity
In the physical world, your identity reflects a host of characteristics — from where you live and where you went to school to what you look like and how you interact with the world.
In the same way, your online identity reflects your virtual address, or domain name, as well as your behaviors on the web. For individual users, this identity is based on information collected about you — including search history, past purchases or demographic information — that form your online profile.
Redefining Digital Identity In The Metaverse
The definition of digital identity takes on a new meaning in the metaverse — calling for a decentralized, open platform based on public blockchain technology that relies on digital identities linked to real-world identities.
In this virtual world, users have control over personal identification information and interactions with other users. Users can even selectively disclose information, according to their own comfort level.
What’s more, digital identities in the metaverse can represent both individuals and institutions or organizations. What does this look like exactly? A user can have different digital identities, such as a workplace identity and personal identity, but they are all based on the user’s real-world identity.
This idea anticipates the need for an interoperable digital identity, or a digital passport of sorts, that individuals and organizations can use across digital environments to prove who they are and why they’re different.
As the metaverse continues to build momentum, the key to differentiation begins with the right domain name that articulates who you are, what you value and why people should pay attention.
Developing Autonomy In The Digital World
The future of the internet is already underway, and leveraging how different personas and identifiers affect your personal brand or business is critical.
In this ever-growing ecosystem of digital identities, it’s important to differentiate your brand from others with a unique web presence. Among the most powerful ways of doing this is with a descriptive domain name. In addition to legacy domain extensions like .com or .net, you can now choose from hundreds of descriptive domains — from .coffee and .pizza to .technology and .careers. Not only do these descriptors reinforce your authentic online identity, but they also help protect that identity via homographic blocking technology.
For businesses, digital identity is a reflection of your entire brand’s behaviors and interactions online. One of the first impressions people get of this identity is your domain name. In a matter of seconds, your domain name communicates something about you: who you are and what you value. If you compromise on your online identity with a domain name that doesn’t reflect your business name or industry, you lose the opportunity to tell the world who you are and why you matter instantaneously. With descriptive domains, you have the opportunity to use keywords on both the left and right of the dot to showcase your business name, industry and relevance. Certain descriptive domain names also serve a critical security purpose, by giving businesses an authentic online identity with built-in security against online threats.
Building an authentic digital identity, either as an individual or organization, begins with knowing who you are, more importantly, who you want to be online. Paired with a descriptive domain name, here are a few other ways you can create a strong digital identity in the emerging metaverse:
• Develop a unique voice that is distinct to your personal or professional brand. Take time to find this voice and keep it consistent across your website, social media, etc.
• Know your audience. Show them you understand their needs, interests, goals and ambitions by doing your research.
• Create compelling content that aligns with your audience’s goals, interests or ambitions — without compromising on your voice or brand’s mission.
• Be selective about the content you publish as well as what you engage with — your audience can see it!
• Know where you’re going. Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve online, as a user or business. What do you want to accomplish? What is your plan for the future?
For individuals and organizations alike, perception matters — and it can be the difference between site traffic and revenue or no users at all.
Establishing who you are and what you stand for on the internet begins with a simple, descriptive domain, like coding.careers or brewing.coffee. You can use it to showcase your brand, highlight your values, link to partners, run promotions and inspire audiences in a matter of seconds. The impact? A unique and authentic digital identity that differentiates you in an expanding galaxy of users.
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