Picture this: you are in a premium resort where guests are provided with exclusive access to a personally curated environment with private beaches, state of the art amenities, gourmet dining, etc. All of these amenities are strictly restricted to the resort’s property. While the experience can be claimed as ‘once in a lifetime’ experience, guests are limited to what the resort offers and you aren’t allowed to access the outside world. Now, imagine this in the digital world and that is a walled garden for you.
The 21st century is floating in the midst of technology and media, here, a walled garden refers to a self-contained ecosystem where access to content and services is carefully controlled by the provider. To give a greater idea of this, let us take Apple’s App Store. Within this platform, users can look at a wide variety of apps and services that can be downloaded onto their devices and utilised. Furthermore, all these apps and services are vetted and managed by the parent company – Apple. This restricted environment provides the users with a high standard of quality and security despite limiting their ability to utilise services that may not be listed on the App Store. Just as guests in a resort are confined to its boundaries, users within a walled garden are limited to the features and content provided by the ecosystem, creating a controlled yet exclusive experience.
What is the purpose of using a walled garden?
“In 2014, walled gardens accounted for 62 percent of time adults spent online in the United States. In 2023, the share decreased to 39 percent,” reveals a report by Statista. There are a variety of uses for walled gardens and it differs from the perspective of a company to another ranging from user engagement, cybersecurity, ad revenue, to quality control, brand loyalty, etc.
By restricting access to approved content and applications, companies can maintain a higher level of security and prevent issues such as malware or unverified content from infiltrating their ecosystem. Moreover, walled gardens enable companies to create a streamlined and integrated user experience. When all services and content are housed within a single platform, users can navigate and interact with the environment more seamlessly. When it comes to advertising and sales online, walled gardens are every advertisers’ dream. As the concept of walled garden restricts users from going to external platforms, users are bound to purchase or contribute to the return on investment (ROI) by the advertisers.
Social media platforms, another example of walled gardens, are designed in a way to keep the consumers on their platform for the longest period of time as that equates to the consumer seeing more ads. Some platforms even go to the extent of luring the consumers in with rewards programs like that of TikTok.
In conclusion, the concept of a walled garden represents a deliberate effort to keep consumers in a controlled environment. While it does offer several benefits such as enhanced security and consistent premium experience, it also poses many challenges. As digital ecosystems continue to evolve, the balance between control and openness will remain a critical consideration for both providers and users.