Extract from Ashley Bailey’s article “How to Humanize the Digital Experience”
With the advent of web3, brands continuously leverage as many digital channels as possible to reach consumers. The metaverse, for instance, is only one aspect of web3 development that opens highly immersive environments for brands to engage with their target audience—or expand into new audiences. Given how decentralized the space is today, there are many avenues brands can leverage in just the metaverse alone.
However, while digital channels have made it even easier for brands and consumers to connect with each other, it’s imperative that these experiences remain human at their core. Ironically, that is what people still want in a digital world. From stay-at-home orders to remote work and the digitization of entertainment, maintaining that human touch across experiences will enable deeper relationships with consumers.
What does it mean to humanize?
The word humanize itself first appeared around the turn of the 15th century. It was originally meant to “make or render human.” It evolved during the century to mean “civilize or make human.” While the essence of the word has not changed—to make something human—the meaning in the digital world boils down to the experience.
To “humanize” something today in the digital sense means to make it feel humanlike and not programmed or fake. It’s usually intuitive and easy to use, but at the same time, it also connects with the user on an emotional level. From the text they read on a webpage to the visual and audible interactions they engage with through an experience, humans are quite good at recognizing when something seems canned, robotic, and lifeless.
