Brands were missing from Mark Zuckerberg’s recently promulgated alternative universe. Facebook’s metaverse simulations appeared to be largely ad-free.
This omission looked at odds with the remainder of the presentation, which was in part a massive infomercial for Facebook’s makeover as Meta, an empire that is and will be fueled by advertising. When he wasn’t drawing the future, Zuckerberg was busy naming firms that are currently using Facebook’s virtual and augmented reality products and gushing about the metaverse’s potential for new business models.
Companies will undoubtedly seek to fill the metaverse’s three dimensions with their logos and products, given the metaverse’s vast real estate. We know this because it happened once before, in the early virtual world known as Second Life.
When Second Life peaked, social media was still in its infancy
When Second Life peaked, social media was still in its early stages. But it has since showed brands that they need to interact with customers rather than broadcast to them. Of course, money will be earned in the metaverse, most notably by Facebook. “Data harvesting and capturing is going to be a massive business,” says PA Consulting’s Lee Howells (which itself dabbled in Second Life). There will also be a plethora of new ways to earn money. For example, in the overlapping virtual world of online gaming, Koles is researching how users purchase “cosmetic” products to improve the appearance of their avatars. Despite the fact that the modifications have no effect on online performance.
Companies may have earned some less evident benefits from Second Life, according to studies. Virtual reality, according to Koles, is “a first-hand experience, as close as you can get to being in a company and experiencing it in person.” The challenge will determine how far firms want to go into the metaverse.
Second Life, according to researchers, allowed people to experiment with numerous identities and techniques. Simply customizing avatars piqued their interest. When they emerged from the virtual world, they discovered new possibilities as they experimented with various solutions.
Virtual collaboration and co-operation can also be more inclusive, allowing a wider spectrum of people to join. Microsoft’s more modest foray into the workplace metaverse. The addition of avatars to its Teams communication platform, aims to expand on what employees are already used to.
Businesses must view virtual worlds less as a medium for aggressive marketing in order to prosper from the metaverse
To profit from the metaverse, they must view virtual worlds as rich locations to experiment, interact, and develop leadership and management abilities. Rather than as a route for aggressive marketing. In 2025, or sooner, the much-maligned team-building away-day will be held in virtual reality. Then advise your employees to take off their VR headsets and apply what they’ve learned in the virtual world.
and then