The metaverse - is there a business use case?

What really is the metaverse? Is it here now? Something coming in the future?

Or is a promise of a technology that may never apply to business?

Let's first break down the two components of the word -

1. Meta means something refers back to or is about itself
2. Verse is short for universe

Metaverse, then, represents a digital version of the universe in which we all live.

Back in the day, we used to "go online" by using a dial-up connection on our computer. We would check email, the weather, sports scores, etc. and then go offline.

America Online sent an estimated 1 billion CDs between 1993-2006, including these Canadian versions, to potential customers. Drink holders, anyone?

By comparison, our phones, unless we specifically instruct them to do so, are always online and ready to both push and pull information from apps connected to the Internet.

Despite being always online, we still control what's happening on our phone in real-time. Think about video chats - whether it's FaceTime, Zoom, Teams, Skype (why are you still using Skype, by the way?) or something similar, you're replicating a real-life event with a digital one.

The video chat turns on and off, and therefore starts and stops, just like an in-person conversation.

How the metaverse is different

Here's where the idea of the metaverse is slightly different - it's persistent, unlike your video chat.

Our always-on Internet connections allow events to happen in real-time across any physical space, and this is where the metaverse is possible.

We may think of the metaverse as wearing Virtual Reality (VR) goggles and headphones, interacting with avatars of ourselves and other people. I prefer to think there are levels of what the metaverse experience looks and feels like, though.

The metaverse could be entirely immersive (all your senses are receiving virtual stimulus) or it could simply be something happening in real-time where you're not physically located.

Here's an easy differentiator - when you watch a YouTube video on-demand, that's simply using the Internet. When you watch a YouTube live video, that's one version of a metaverse experience. You might be watching a video live on a screen, or you might be wearing VR goggles...either way it's a real-time event where you don't have to be there.

The metaverse vs. other live events

"What makes this different than simply watching live TV, Spence?" You may be wondering.

In my opinion, the metaverse offers us an option to enhance the experience to fit our desired level of involvement.

Say you're watching a football game live on TV - something that's been possible for decades. That's not the metaverse.

Now imagine the quarterback in the football game is wearing a camera/microphone on his helmet that allows you to see/hear what he sees all around him. And go a step further - you put on VR goggles and headphones so you can experience the same exact surroundings. That would be a metaverse experience.

Thursday Night NFL Football on Amazon is introducing some aspects of this right now. Choose the Next Gen Stats version of the broadcast, and you're treated to a zoomed-out camera view with receiver routes, predictions on the play call, and the velocity of certain actions. Next stop? Goggles and headphones, and you're alluding the linebacker coming to sack you right along with the real-life QB.

What the metaverse means for businesses

"Should our business have a metaverse presence? And if we do, what does that even look like?"

Here's a way to frame this idea:

Pretend you own & operate a retail store. You have a brick & mortar location, physical goods you're selling, and a staff to help the customers.

The holidays are coming up, and you'd like to refresh the store layout/decorations to help drive sales. You set aside some evenings with your staff to do the physical work, and as a result, you have a great holiday season. After the holidays, you revert back to the previous layout before the holidays come around again.

This option is both expensive and physically constrained.

Your website, by comparison, can be updated digitally with holiday offers & cosmetic flourishes to entice your online customers.

Since your website is digital, it can be changed on a whim and scale to an infinite size.

The website, however, isn't immersive. Much holiday shopping is utilitarian (I need to buy a gift for someone, and online is the easiest), while other is experiential. Visiting a great store in-person isn't something a website can replicate.

Metaverse ecosystems allow that physical shopping experience to happen in a digital realm.

Take your physical store and turn it into a digital replica. Customers walk in the virtual front door and can experience your holiday displays & your special offers. Just as importantly, customers can bring their friends along.

The metaverse, unlike the utilitarian online shopping experience, is meant to be experienced with others. Instead of picking up my friend(s) and traveling to the store, I can meet them in the metaverse equivalent.

You, as the retail store owner, can update your metaverse store at any time with almost zero cost. Customers not responding well to a certain display? Move it somewhere else. Or ditch it completely.

Is your yellow sign not motivating people to put the item in their virtual shopping cart? Replace it with an orange one. Or a red one. Or a spinning hologram...everything is possible.

Will any of these options turn into real dollars for real businesses?

Look at younger generations with video games. The vast majority of money being spent on digital goods is in a free-to-play game environment. Fortnite, PUBG, Fall Guys, and hundreds of other games cost nothing to download and play. Spending $1500 on a virtual bazooka? That sounds reasonable.

Wearing an outfit (called a skin), equipping a certain item, or using a certain emote is purely aesthetic. It doesn't help the player of the game perform better or be more competitive. It's simply a way to be social.

Your retail store, if you choose, could sell both a digital and physical version of a good. The digital could be used in the metaverse while the physical has real-life utility. Creative businesses will be rewarded as they combine their shopping experiences.

The metaverse experience - my prediction for the future

We stopped using the expression "go online." Now we're always online.

Soon, we'll move from going "into the metaverse," to an always-on enhanced version of whatever we'd like to experience.

Regardless of where you're located on earth, an Internet connection and the right hardware will put you front & center of whatever reality you like.

Fun? Probably. Scary? Maybe.

A business use case? Still to be determined.

Do you agree? Please let me know your thoughts about the metaverse in the comments.

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Next week's newsletter preview

DeFi (Decentralized Finance) part 2 -
Where do 20% yields come from? Is any of this sustainable?          

Thanks for reading! - Spence

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