UNVEILING METAVERSE SOCIAL TRENDS: ANALYZING ONLINE NEWS BIG DATA WITH LDA-BASED TOPIC MODELING

Abstract

The Metaverse has undergone diverse stages of evaluation. Currently, it has entered a developmental phase characterized by the seamless integration of real-world socio-economic and cultural activities in a 3D virtual environment. There is a significant demand to gain insights into the shaping and potential implications of the Metaverse 3.0 era. This study aims to explore social issues with regard to Metaverse in South Korea by analyzing big data of online news from June 2021 to May 2022 through LDA-based topic modeling. Consequently, a total of four topics were derived including a new platform, a new business model, pervasive online cultural and educational media, and a new frontier for business and investment. New Platform (Topic 1) consisted of keywords that showed that Metaverse could serve as a next-generation platform, and New Business (Topic 2) consisted of keywords that showed that digital media companies seek their new profit model in the virtual world of Metaverse. Pervasive online culture and education media (Topic 3) consisted of keywords that showed as the way of enjoying cultural and educational media in the virtual world becomes pervasive, more content will be needed. New Frontier for Business and Investment (Topic 4) consists of keywords that show digital media companies are highly active in securing investments, technologies, and intellectual property (IP) to gain an advantage in the global Metaverse market. While this study only focused on online news data, a study can extend to include various types of raw data including interviews with practitioners, user reviews, and research reports, so that further study will provide comprehensive insights to manage possible challenges that Metaverse would face.