Technology has always fuelled our imagination. It is no wonder then that Mark Zuckerberg’s presentation last week about a new living environment for people and business, the metaverse, aroused a lot of interest. Many still labelled the performance mainly as a branding trick. Rather, it is a potential “new oat milk”, something that is not worth laughing at for very long.
Metaverse means a new kind of mixing of the real and virtual worlds. It may sound like sci-fi, and that’s where the term originated. The word was coined by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson, who described a new kind of reality in his book back in 1992.
But that's where fiction ends here. Private equity investor and New York Times columnist Matthew Ball speak of a new revolution in the metaverse. Ball says it is a big mistake to see the metaverse only as an enhanced virtual world or just a gaming business. Instead, it’s the next step for the entire internet.
There have been indications long before Zuckerberg of the next phase of the Internet, which combines human creativity and technology in a novel way. And that is why the phenomenon is worth attention. It is also a significant business opportunity.
What describes this next phase of the internet then? It can be summarized as follows:
1. The Internet is no longer a place but an experience that surrounds us.
2. The experience internet connects the real and the virtual world as well as different platforms and actors.
3. On the new Internet, there are more and more actors of all sizes at play.
4. For people, the experience is more seamless or even completely seamless.
5. At the same time, a whole new economy can emerge that is much more than the current digital economy.
At the same time, it must be remembered that our images of the future are often very technology-coloured and almost as often the technology has been at least partially wrong. Can this be the case now? Absolutely.
As is often the case with techno-forecasts, this vision still lacks almost completely the attachment to people's needs. People didn’t get onboard smart glasses before because they interfered too much with normal eye contact. People also value humanity, authenticity, and responsibility even more than before which are things that still shine in their absence in metaverse visions.
METAVERSUM WILL ONLY SUCCEED IF IT CAN PRODUCE ADDED VALUE FOR ITS USERS.
The most critical question then is whether the metaverse or the new era internet will succeed in generating true value for its users - better than the old internet coloured by manoeuvres and hacks. Even Zuckerberg promised less digital noise and better privacy along with entertainment, but it remains to be seen if it will come true.
The Alliance of technology and creativity can produce new and interesting phenomena. (c) Valo Future 2030 Futurizer
The current internet is no longer working in the best possible way for businesses either. Digitalization enables location independent and online working, but at the same time, the difficulty of managing creativity is becoming a major problem for the renewal and growth of companies.
Microsoft’s international development director has been tweeting about the new challenges of leadership in a way that one can only imagine what kind of new type of metaverse-kind meeting experiences are already in development there.
Typically, we exaggerate developments of the near future. At the same time, however, we often end up belittling the power of long-term change. And that’s exactly what metaverse is, a long journey towards a new kind of internet that no one can completely have a total vision of. Right now, though, it’s worth jumping in and making an impact.
One step ahead
2030 Futurizer
2030 Futurizer forecasts the change in the world and identifies hundreds of new opportunities and changes in business models.
The concept opens up prospects and creates a solid foundation for tomorrow's innovations and future-proof strategy.
