What Exactly Is the Metaverse and How Will It Affect Your Brand?

For the longest time, Facebook has been leading in social interaction along with its other apps, WhatsApp and Instagram. They have played a huge part in making the world a global village. Mark Zuckerberg and his team have discovered the potential in the metaverse and want to be a part of it. This begs the question: what is the metaverse all about?

A Brief History of the Metaverse

The term metaverse was first used in 1992 in a science fiction movie called Snow crash. It portrayed humans as avatars where they interacted with each other and software agents.

In a more detailed explanation, the metaverse is a combination of different technologies that include virtual reality, which consists of an online community where users interact with each other in a simulated world and augmented reality which combines both the physical and the digital world. In other words, it is how we interact with each other through technology.

Mark Zuckerberg intends on bringing it to reality. This way, we can connect and share our thoughts and imaginations through augmented reality (AR).  

Now that we are in the 21st century, the metaverse is believed to be our future. With metaverse, visiting sites, meeting new people, going to the movies, learning, and playing will be easier.

You can do pretty much anything! You can bring the real-world to metaverse and also metaverse to the real world. 

Zuckerberg Speech at Connect 2021: What Did He Say?

During the speech, he announced the change of the company’s name from Facebook to Meta. He explained that he intended on Meta being at the forefront in taking the metaverse to the next step. He wanted a world where people could socialize and feel the experience no matter the distance and the part of the world they come from.

He further explained that his number one goal is to produce AR glasses that would be used as the metaverse. He also pointed out that billions of dollars were being channeled into the program to make it a success. 

According to Zuckerberg, for metaverse to be fully operational, it would take some time and plenty of work.

He also mentioned that he is aiming at leading the technology and will be using Meta’s Quest AR headsets which will be its future. 

What are the features of the Quest?

Horizon Home

When you put on your headset, this will be the first thing that will appear.

Horizon Home aims to help the user to be able to join games with friends, hang out, watch videos, and participate in games such as avatars. These activities will be done virtually.

Horizon Worlds

Since Covid 19 struck the entire world, companies have embraced the idea of employees working from home, and as we have seen, this idea is here to stay. Meta sees the future in virtual office space. 

With metaverse, doing presentations, attending the meeting, making coffee, and not to mention, the awkward office chit chat that happens would be made possible without physical interaction.

Horizon Worlds will ensure everything you think of will be possible including performing your daily activities in the comfort of your home.

Education

Education plays an important role in the world. It is through education that inventions have been made. Metaverse aims at improving this sector. 

How cool will it be “traveling” to China to see the Great wall, visiting the Vatican museums in Italy, and visiting the moon all through augmented reality? This will be a huge boost to the education sector, more so for students who prefer a visual experience when learning.

Meta has set aside 150 million dollars to train the next generation in a bid to assist them to create educational content. This move will therefore see the creation of a new curriculum and certification process of the program which will be easier to monetize.

It is no doubt the metaverse was created mainly for social purposes. Mark Zuckerberg, however, wants to ensure that you can make money out of this experience. So, how will it be possible?

Commerce

We’ve seen tremendous growth in the ecosystem over the years, and with this change, Meta is planning to use business ideas when building the metaverse.

They sell their devices at lower prices to ensure that they are readily available to everyone. Zuckerberg believes that transforming the metaverse into reality will be possible if we all work together.

He also points out that within 10 years, billions of people will have joined the metaverse. 

The main goals of the metaverse are to create innovations, interact with people, and create a business without physical appearance. I can only imagine how amazing it will be for you to order groceries only for them to be delivered to your doorstep with digital goods that you will be able to store in your virtual world.

How Can Your Brand Take Full Advantage of the Metaverse?

It might take a couple of years for metaverse to be in full operation as it is still in development. With that said, there is nothing to be done right now. But it is advisable to have a team ready to jump right into action when the development is complete.

We’ve noticed that companies that tend to be the first to experience a new technology often have a lot to gain.

Since this new technology will be offering courses and certificates after training, it is good to ensure that you prepare your team earlier. In this case, it will save you a lot of trouble and time-wasting when the development is complete.

Also, companies that would have embraced AR/VR would have a better chance of getting involved with metaverse.

Finally, introducing this new technology to your brand will be a game-changer for your business. Preparing early for the change will make a huge difference when metaverse development is complete.