What is the Metaverse?

Those who make use of the internet must have come across the buzzword Metaverse lately and how it could possibly be changing the face of the internet. Big companies such as Facebook and Nike have also jumped on the metaverse trend, with companies like Facebook changing their parent company name to Meta to accommodate its goal of going into virtual reality. 

Despite the metaverse making a lot of headlines and trends, there are still a lot of people who don't know what the metaverse is and its applications in day-to-day activities. So get ready as we take a soothing adventure into everything you need to know about the metaverse, why it is trending and how it can be used in our everyday life.

The metaverse in simple terms is a virtual world that is used by real people and are represented by digital avatars. To understand the concept of Metaverse more, it is a 3D virtual world that is powered by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). The major characteristics of the Metaverse are that it is interoperable, real-time, and self-sustaining. 

Since the inception of Covid-19 restrictions, a lot of things have changed from the ways they used to be, there is a hike in remote working, remote meetups and other personal events preferably online. 

Many technologies are integrated into the concept of the metaverse and these include:

The Metaverse makes use of 3D and 4K HD technology to create a virtual world where people can interact with each other using unique digital avatars. 

Because of its qualities of interoperability, value transfer, collectability, decentralization, digital ownership, and transparency, blockchain is part of the metaverse for the development and constant evolution of the concept. 

In the metaverse, the internet of things is needed to bridge the gap between the physical world and 3D virtual reality. The internet of things makes it possible for the representations on the metaverse to be accurate to the ones that are found in the physical world. 

Artificial intelligence helps to improve the level of engagement and interaction in the metaverse. It helps to increase the effectiveness of data management on the platform. 

Virtual and augmented reality help to give metaverse users an improved experience of the physical world in the virtual world. It helps to recreate the elements and graphical representations of the physical world.

The internet has been slowly going towards virtual reality, but the biggest trend of the metaverse happened when Facebook declared its goal to change the parent company's name to Meta to accommodate its goal of creating a Metaverse platform. 

Ever since then, a lot of money has been pumped into the project by Meta with a $10 billion budgeted for the project in 2021.

Companies like Nike, Apple and Microsoft have gotten involved in developing a 3D virtual world. Microsoft is trying to create a collaborative working environment for businesses and this project is known as Microsoft Mesh and acquired Activision Blizzard in the process. Nike on the other hand also acquired RTFKT Studios, a digital studio that produces shoe wearables for the metaverse.

All the news and the various benefits of the metaverse are what are driving the trends about this technological innovation.

Metaverse is an innovative technology that is very helpful in many ways to the average human being. The metaverse is helping to change communication between human beings in a way that hasn't been used before. Here is a full explanation of the use cases of the metaverse for the average human. 

The question of "what are the uses of metaverse" among business owners are answered with the following use cases that are presented below:

Metaverse users have increased considerably and since gaming platforms are at the forefront of the metaverse communities, businesses can now make use of metaverse for marketing campaigns. An instance is the case of Roblox placing ads for Warnermedia and Paramount Pictures on their platforms. 

With the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), the metaverse will completely change the face of communication between businesses and their clients. Businesses will now be able to communicate and will now be able to interact with their clients in real-time using digital avatars. 

Businesses can now make use of metaverse to create a virtual working environment for their employees. Several companies are already integrating this into their working system such as Virtuworx which makes use of VR and digital avatars to create a virtual working space and keep up with workers.

The Metaverse is a 3D virtual world that is made up of technologies such as VR and AR, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain. The innovative technology has been trending since 2021 since the Facebook major rebrand and other major companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Nike picking interest. Apart from the hype, the metaverse has a lot of applications for both individuals and business owners.