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Oct 4, 2022
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reports that in the first six months of 2022, the word Metaverse appeared in regulatory filings more than 1,100 times. More and more companies are mentioning the metaverse and how it coexists with the capabilities of their company in comparison to those who don't factor in its abilities and presence.
The Metaverse is not a single technology or device, and it’s not a service of any one company. It’s the convergence of several separate technologies, all of which are quickly maturing for mainstream use. Together, those technologies can create the experience of an immersive, three-dimensional environment in which users interact with their surroundings and other users as if they are in a shared space.But a fully developed Metaverse is more than merely a virtual space. It also has at least two other important characteristics that enhance its potential as a new platform with a wide variety of uses. First, it is likely to include both the physical and digital/virtual worlds in the user's experience. Second, the Metaverse is expected to have a native economy, including digitally native assets and trade. While the Internet today has an important relationship to the economy, the Metaverse could have its own economy.
Metaverses are the future of human interaction and that is obvious from all indicators. If you go to a coffee shop, a restaurant or a park, everyone’s eyes are glued to the screen and not to their surroundings. The internet and its apps are absorbing more and more of people’s attention. These apps are Metaverses, they are universes that exist entirely online that people are living their lives in.
Labeling current social media apps as Metaverses is largely semantics, but it is worth understanding that many people spend most of their time already immersed in an online experience. Human beings adopt technologies slowly with the average adoption cycle for new technology being about 15 years. This is the slow progression into more and more immersion, but web3 is aiming to do this in a unique way.
Current “Metaverses” (social media apps) are monetized by advertising and by aggregating and selling your personal information. This is done with “consent” but barely so. Its extremely annoying from a user's perspective and highly invasive. Web3 builders are aiming to fund these experiences directly with integrated crypto payments, NFT fund raising, NFT memberships. The direct funding for now will just provide non advertising alternatives to cash flow, but in the future could provide for fractional ownership of the apps you use. Imagine using a social media app and being paid monthly due to its success? That is the world web3 builders are working towards and are hoping to change ownership and use ability of the internet for the better.