The Metaverse

“In the next few years, I hope people will go from seeing us as a social media company, to seeing us as another company. In many ways, the metaverse is the ultimate expression of social technology.” These are the words of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, that give an important clue about the direction the internet will take in the coming years.

In this sense, large technology companies, such as Facebook itself, are investing huge amounts of money to be the first to develop a fully functional metaverse. But what does this revolution consist of?

The metaverse is a parallel universe in which users will be able to work, shop or interact with each other in the same way they do in reality. Something like a hyperreality video game, which would use current technology (virtual reality, artificial intelligence, etc.) to get as close as possible to people’s physical lives.

Although it may seem very novel, the idea of the metaverse was already explored years ago, through the online game Second Life. This community experienced great popularity in the 2000s, and allowed its users to navigate an imaginary world and interact with other online users through an avatar.

Although its user base has been declining over time, this parallel universe still has great fans, who generate around $60 million each year selling their in-game creations.

The creation of a metaverse adapted to current technologies promises to completely change our way of understanding the internet. For this reason, large technology companies are fighting to be the first to launch a space that can dominate the industry in the coming decades.

In addition to Facebook, Sony and Epic Games joined forces months ago to start developing it, with an investment of 1 billion dollars.

What businesses can be set up in the metaverse?

One of the main objectives of the metaverse is for users to feel that they are in a parallel universe, although similar to the current one. For this, economic activity will be a fundamental part. In this sense, the inhabitants of this new world will be able to buy and sell objects and properties or even set up a business.

Furthermore, the economic activity of the parallel universe would not be reduced to gaming. It would also be open to large companies, which could be part of the metaverse by advertising their brands on the streets or selling replicas of real products, such as cars, clothing or technological products.

To provide the economy of the metaverse with reality, cryptocurrencies will also play an important role. Payments could be made with tokens from the game itself, which would be exchanged for real money. Thus, dedicating yourself to selling a product or service in the metaverse can become a real job for many people, in aspects such as interior design – Who wouldn’t like to live in a luxury house, even if it is in a parallel universe? -, the buying and selling of exclusive products or even the possibility of working for others.