Alex Quin is CMO of award-winning Digital Marketing firm UADV. He is a full-stack marketing expert, global keynote speaker & podcast host.
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If you’re a regular user of social media and online services, you’ve probably seen the term “metaverse” at least once in the past few months. It’s a term associated with a new vision of the internet that was brought further into the limelight when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Facebook will now be known as Meta.
“Meta” means “beyond” in Greek, but the word was also chosen to reflect the company’s commitment to being a metaverse company. Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse is an online virtual world that we can access and have experiences in using virtual and augmented reality headsets.
That said, the metaverse isn’t Facebook’s idea, and it isn’t even a new one. I’ll start my exploration of the concept by examining the origins of the word.
The History Of The Metaverse
The term “metaverse” was coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. The book is set in a dystopian future where people spend much of their time in a virtual world called the metaverse. The idea of the metaverse is also present in many other science fiction novels; Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One is a prime example.
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Science fiction aside, other tech companies have released products that mirror the concept of a metaverse. In the field of video game development, for instance, companies like Epic Games and Roblox have already gone as far as hosting concerts via online games.
Other examples of metaverse-like video games include titles such as The Sims by Electronic Arts and Second Life by Linden Lab.
Though none of these examples are close to the scope of what the metaverse could actually entail, they embody one of its core ideas: a shared virtual environment that people can interact with, and where they can interact with each other and participate in events together using customized digital avatars. And as virtual reality becomes more mainstream, it is relatively certain that in the near future we’ll see games like Fortnite hosting concerts you can attend using VR headsets.
The metaverse idea has already seeped into the corporate world. Microsoft has announced the rollout of Mesh for Microsoft Teams in 2022. Mesh is an online platform that uses holograms and mixed reality to create virtual spaces. Its addition to Teams is to help build remote work environments that foster deeper connectedness among team members.
However, the appearance of the metaverse in its ideal form is still up for discussion.
When Will The Metaverse Get Here?
There are different opinions. When Zuckerberg shared his vision of the metaverse, he gave a timeline of five to 10 years for the technologies he introduced to become mainstream.
Venture capitalist Matthew Ball has a much longer time frame in mind. To paraphrase what he wrote in his 2020 essay The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find it, and Who Will Build It, he believes that the internet wasn’t designed for the metaverse experience. He argues that while a lot of modern-day technologies contain attributes that can be found in a metaverse, none of them can operate at the levels a metaverse requires to function. He thinks it will take decades to build the metaverse.
That said, when it’s created, we probably will not see a smooth transition from the internet as we know it to the metaverse, and the major players won’t be the only ones. Smaller companies focusing on the many different aspects of the metaverse will likely play a part.
But what does all this mean for people and brands?
How Will The Metaverse Change Our Lives?
The most directly observable phenomenon will probably be the increase in metaverse experiences. The actual metaverse may be decades away, but there will likely be an increase in the availability of AR and VR media formats and the introduction of more immersive technologies.
Working from home could evolve to re-creating your office virtually in your home or even creating a digital space where your office could be permanently located.
Online shopping could take on a whole new meaning as well. Even today, clothing brands like Balenciaga and Gucci have partnered with Fortnite and Roblox, respectively, to launch clothing collections for in-game avatars. We could see new forms of fashion come to life.
Beyond these examples, however, most people see the metaverse as a digital world where anything, including work and play, can happen. The ideal metaverse will include as many environments as user and producer imaginations allow.
What Will The Metaverse Mean For Brands?
The metaverse will allow brands to tell their stories in ways never possible before. It will allow them to connect with consumers in new ways. It likely won’t have any geographical limitations, and it probably won’t need expensive marketing campaigns or reports that take weeks to put together. It’ll be about just the brand story that consumers want.
One way I think brands can prepare themselves for the metaverse is to get involved in social VR early. This will let you take full advantage of the metaverse’s capabilities. Social interaction online has changed a lot since the early days of chat rooms and forums, and it continues to evolve as platforms like Instagram and Snapchat continue to gain traction among consumers. VR is the next step in the evolution of social networks, and it opens up new possibilities that haven’t yet been explored. For example, in VR anyone can be an influencer — and brands will need to adapt if they want to stay relevant among the next generation of consumers. A celebrity endorsement means nothing when you can hang out with your idol or play games with them in a VR space.
The possibilities of the metaverse are immense. But we must also consider the possible side effects. Issues plaguing the online world today, such as privacy leaks, the commercialization of online spaces and the centralization of technological power, will probably rear their heads in the metaverse if not addressed.
Other side effects, of course, are as yet unknown and will only be made apparent as the creation of the metaverse progresses. In any case, the metaverse is coming, so brands should start thinking now about how to get ready.
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Author: Alex Quin, Forbes Councils Member
