You probably saw it in the news … Facebook announced its parent company was changing their name to “Meta.” And in true Facebook fashion, it came equipped with creepy statements like “we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier.” (Cue sinister Dr. Evil music and your own sippy cup of Kool-Aid for the journey.)
The reality is, Facebook owns a lot of things … Facebook, Instagram, your personal data(!) … the list goes on. So at the core, it DOES make sense for them to rename the parent company, but it may leave you scratching your head and wondering what the heck this “metaverse” actually is.
My opinion? It’s the future of social and digital media and something that your business should be prepared to capitalize on to reach and grow your customer base.
I don’t make this statement because I’ve done hours of research or have some sort of crystal ball, I just see what the giant companies with tons of MONEY are doing. Those companies are sinking money and resources into the metaverse. Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft … you name it … they have their hands in this. So I keep it simple … go where the big money is going and figure out how to capitalize on it.
So what is the metaverse? Really it’s just a fancy buzzword for “virtual reality,” but with a cool and scary twist … we basically all live inside it. Have you seen the movie “Ready Player One?” If you haven’t, then go watch it, because more and more I have the feeling the “fiction” of the story has a very eerie possibility of coming true. People will basically spend most of their waking hours living in virtual worlds.
And while it’s scary at its extreme, think of the practical business applications. For example:
- A restaurant shows an entire table of food laid out to an interested diner before they visit
- A dog trainer gives hands on training to an animal 1,000 miles away
- A clothing designer lets you “try on” an outfit without ever leaving your house.
Pretty cool, huh?
Is it also kinda terrifying to think about people “living” in a fake world? Yup! But all we can really do as small business owners is understand the trends, and then figure out ways we can use them to make our own surroundings better (and hopefully those we interact with).
Start thinking out of the box and ask yourself how you can take advantage of this virtual world for your business. Like it or not … the metaverse is coming and it’s time to understand how to take advantage of it.
