Big Data 4 Vs - Volume, Variety, Velocity, and Veracity

4 Vs of Big data

Big Data is a buzzword in the tech world. It is standing on 4 pillars called four Vs - Volume, Variety, Velocity, and Veracity.  As the name suggests big data is big, really big when it comes to volume. The internet users are creating data in different forms either structured or unstructured, in a very big volume.

Big Data definition illustrated with texts

Image attribution: By Camelia.boban (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Volume, Variety, Velocity, and Veracity

Volume - With the increase in numbers of internet users worldwide volume of the data generated has also gone high. More and more people are using the internet as a medium of communication and continuously generating data. Social media is playing a big role in content generation. With the advancement of technology in the last two decades, the uses of multi-media increased manifolds. New technology was required to handle this big volume and big data refers to the new technology. 

Variety - The internet users are producing varieties of data in the web platforms whether it is websites, eCommerce, social media or mobile applications. Not all of these are structured. Text, images, videos, animations, gaming, are the different varieties of data that is being created on the web. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter are playing a major role in creating unstructured data. Big data is capable of handling and analyzing all these data on the web. 

Velocity - Velocity of this data flow cannot be ignored. It is streaming at a very high speed. The days have gone when the tech persons were handling megabytes. Even an ordinary user can create data in gigabytes in a few minutes and float it to the web. Millions of tweets, facebook posts, emails.... and what not; are floated to the ocean of the web every minute. Big data technology is continually and restlessly analyzing at a very fast speed. 

Veracity - Veracity, the fourth V is the most important. We are now getting factual information in real time on the behavior of internet users. Authentication of this data flow is a herculean task. Veracity (Authenticity) of this data is the most important in decision making. Ultimately, CEOs of the corporations are now dependent on these data in making decisions for their companies. Amazon, a retail platform is an example. 

After all, the technologies are for humankind and of no use if not creating value for the human race. Hence, the big data is to be used for the development and happiness of the human. 

Vardhaman Infotech
eCommerce and Mobile Application development 
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
E-mail: info@vardhamaninfotech.com