Internet is one of the biggest inventions of the last century. It connects the world and eliminates distances between people. You can easily connect with anyone who lives at the far end of the world. Not only that, you can buy any good or service using your mobile phone within a few minutes. It plays a vital role in the growth of the world’s economy.
Though the internet has opened up the door of knowledge and improved connectivity, it did not have its currency, until now. The currencies we had till now were digital numbers backed by fiat somewhere in a bank. The movement of such funds did not mean that we were moving the currency through the internet.
With the introduction of blockchain, cryptocurrencies were developed. Most of these have fixed supply. The supply of some of the inflationary ones can be calculated, and there is transparency. Also, there is no single point of failure. You do not need to rely on fiat anymore, you do not need to cash out. There is a huge potential for creating a digital economy.
The need for a Metaverse
The internet now has the power of immutability coupled with a currency of its own. This means that you will now have true ownership of digital assets and trade them without the need for third-party trust. This presents a huge opportunity for consolidation. Just like the mobile phone was able to consolidate so many different products, pagers, cameras, mp3 players, telephones tec. This is a moment of consolidation. Let us see what areas of the internet are in silos and would require an immediate upgrade.
Opportunities in a Metaverse
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Existing centralized digital economies do not work
Let’s go to Facebook and see how its economy works. Your network and communicate with your friends and colleagues. You gain nothing in monetary value from such interactions. Your chats are open for people to see. There is an algorithm absorbing your interests and trying to feed you products you don’t even want. You do not control the economy on Facebook. The Metaverse has its economy. In the more technologically advanced Metaverses, the economy is run by Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) using Smart Contracts.
2. New era of Digital Marketing
Similarly, if you own a small business and have a Facebook page, you have to pay for every advertisement. This is because you do not truly own the page and you cannot move around for outreach. You will have to pay a third party to do your marketing outreach. The entire concept of Marketing is overhauled. You can now set up your digital shop! As you are a true owner of your space now, you can put up billboards, create buildings and give a whole new experience to your customers.
3. Cutting Edge Social Network
This also changes the concept of the social network. The social network as we see now is two-dimensional. You log into a webpage and chat using text. Through text, you are not even sure the emotion or thought a person is carrying behind a post. That is until they specifically tell you. You can react using some limited features (Like, share, etc) only. This is a cumbersome process and often leads to misdirection.
4. Video Conferencing
One way of tackling this in the digital age is through the use of Video Conferencing. We regularly talk to our friends and colleagues using Skype or Zoom. This also means using a different standalone application for networking. The Metaverse allows you to have your digital avatars. These avatars can meet in a pre-determined place in the digital world and talk to each other and react. Video conferencing is widely used in corporate meetings. In a more advanced scenario institutions will own offices in the digital world. Such offices will host virtual meetings conferences etc. Post pandemic work culture will be hybrid, it will be a balance between work from an office and work from home. The Metaverse will play a very important role in shaping that future.
5. Business Sectors moving to the Metaverse
Different sectors of business will slowly move to the Metaverse. We are already seeing the Art industry moving in. Sotheby now has a Digital Art Gallery in The Decentraland. Your Art collections can now be displayed in a 3D art gallery.
6. Youtube
Youtube? Yes, that is possible in the Metaverse too. And with the use of NFTs, you can build a ticketing system directly integrated with the artist’s royalties. It’s possible to decentralize all the likes, subscribers, and ads. The advertisements might shift to the billboards on the lands instead of coming in between a video.
In the next part of this series, we will explore some more opportunities in Metaverse, and understand What exactly a Metaverse is, and what is the technology behind it.
Resources: Metaverse
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