Metaverse: what it is and how this new reality will transform business

Have you ever heard of the Metaverse? It sounds like something out of a movie, but it's much closer to your everyday life than you might think. 

Composed of the prefix "meta" (meaning "beyond") and the radical "verse" (a reverse formation of "universe"), the term is used to describe a kind of virtual reality, which attempts to recreate real life digitally. 

It's very present in video games, but the very social networks we use every day can be considered a kind of parallel reality. 

The metaverse is a shared virtual space where people are represented by digital avatars. The virtual world constantly grows and evolves based on the decisions and actions of the society within it. Eventually, people will be able to enter the metaverse virtually or interact with parts of it in their physical space with the help of augmented and mixed reality.

Currently, you can only experience the internet when you access it, but with new devices and technologies, we will be able to experience it every day and everywhere in the very near future.

The metaverse in your life

You may not think so, but you're already in the metaverse and the pandemic has contributed to this. Online work meetings, family events on Zoom, being able to try on clothes, glasses frames and other accessories on e-commerce sites are all examples of virtual reality already being part of our lives. 

In the United States, the environments of games such as Minecraft, Fortnite and Animal Crossing have been used to celebrate graduations and weddings. For now, they are "just" games, but they already have large user bases, detailed worlds and user-generated content.

Facebook is also positioning itself towards the metaverse with its virtual reality social media platform, Horizon (currently in beta) and Live Maps. Niantic, Magic Leap, Microsoft and many others are also working on it.

And in business?

Marketing and communications professionals need to pay attention to the metaverse because it is the next frontier for online interaction. Just as social media revolutionized the online marketing landscape, so will the metaverse. Although we don't have a shared metaverse at the moment, there are companies positioned to create one.

In addition, companies will need to transition their marketing strategies from online ad buys to a shared virtual economy. They will also need to do market research on their new customers in the metaverse. 

How people act and what their preferences are in the metaverse can be totally different from how they behave and what they buy in real life. Add to this the business layer for robot and consumer, where virtual assistants and robots own the relationship with the consumer and it all starts to make sense.

A new world

In the e-commercethe change will be far greater than just being able to digitally try on clothes that people can then buy in real life. Clothes, shoes, real estate, art objects, cars... almost everything will have its own value within the metaverse. 

Recently, Mars House, the world's first digital NFT (non-fungible token) house, was sold for more than 500 thousand dollars. It only exists within the metaverse, meaning that only an avatar can "inhabit" it.

The luxury market has also got on board: Gucci has launched digital shoe sales at prices below what its physical shoes usually cost.

Companies will have to design brands for different people at different stages of wealth. People who invest heavily in the metaverse may have their own businesses and properties, and therefore opportunities to partner with businesses that don't exist in physical reality.

Are you ready for so many changes?

It's very likely that you've seen your children, nephews or younger siblings playing Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox or PKXD and thought that they were all just another trendy app, a little online game of little importance.

But now you know that being aware of these new technologies is essential if you don't want to be left behind. The metaverse already exists and is advancing every day.

The opportunities in the virtual world are endless. Is your company ready for what lies ahead?

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