Facebook has evolved into Meta.
Instagram is now supporting NFTs. Twitter is adding blockchain-verified avatars. Likewise, Reddit is.
Is this all a sham? Or is there an overarching shift toward crypto and virtual reality that corporations should monitor more closely?
There is a transition taking place.
One that is critical to the success of any firm. However, there is a great deal of noise. It’s difficult to keep track of everything and determine which trends will endure.
And the noise level is just going to increase.
Will the metaverse be the future of social media?
Social networks are unquestionably evolving and competing at a greater rate than ever witnessed previously. Meta deciphers the message on the wall. They recognize that they cannot continue to fend off every other social network indefinitely. As a result, they’re placing a massive wager on what will happen next.
This is not to say that consumer behavior will soon shift away from traditional social sites.
As key social channels, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are all still extremely relevant. While Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms continue to gain prominence as effective marketing channels.
Whatever form the internet takes in the next five to ten years, these social platforms will remain the fundamental social layers on which consumers and businesses rely.
Will a new social platform emerge, based on blockchain technology or entirely in virtual reality? At the very least, one of those scenarios will occur. However, I believe it has a 50% chance of occurring within the next 2-3 years.
What’s more critical is that you grasp a few fundamental principles about what’s coming next. And how it affects you personally.
What is the metaverse, and why is it significant?
Simply put, the metaverse is a virtual environment. A virtual place in which people prefer to spend their time rather than in the physical world. There is some controversy about whether or not that virtual environment must be experienced using a VR headset. And even Facebook will admit that virtual reality technology is not quite there yet.
The simple conclusion is that virtual worlds are being created with the intent of increasing our time spent in them. Today, over 160 firms operate in this field. It’s extremely similar to what happened 15 years ago when social networks like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter were developed to take up more of our online time.
Is it the time for your firm to invest in the metaverse? No. Simply put, the technology is not yet mature.
If you wish to construct a storefront in Decentraland’s metaverse as a public relations stunt, go ahead. Simply do not anticipate it to be a long-term opportunity for consumer engagement today.
If you have the resources and a genuine interest in the metaverse, you should be testing these technologies and determining what they are and are not capable of.
Virtual worlds, on the other hand, are merely one aspect of how the web is changing today.
What is web3 and why is it significant?
Web3 is a blockchain-based decentralized internet. It’s crypto, NFTs, Defi, and tokens, among other things. And for some, it will eventually evolve into a metaverse, or virtual reality, based on cryptographic underpinnings.
There are two critical aspects of web3 that will not be phased out very soon. Let’s dissect them and see how they might affect your business or marketing efforts shortly.
Decentralization
Wikipedia is largely decentralized. Likewise, WordPress is. No single person is responsible for the development of these resources. They are carried out collaboratively with few to no gatekeepers.
Communities that are decentralized can move swiftly. They have the potential to mobilize big groups around a cause. They are really difficult to compete with. Additionally, they are capable of reacting swiftly to threats.
Ownership
There is no centralized power broker on the blockchain. Because ownership is dispersed across users. Ownership may be obtained in some situations by contributions, bounties, or quests. Alternatively, ownership can be acquired by purchasing an NFT or exchanging it for social tokens.
The particulars are secondary to the impacts. A community of owners will always outperform a community in which there is no exchange of value. This is why NFT communities may expand so quickly. When the community benefits from the outcome, there is an inherent incentive.
What should a business do with web3?
These foundational notions are critical for you to comprehend what follows. They represent enormous marketing opportunities. They are enabling a new wave of community-based ownership.
Entire organizations and businesses are being reimagined as DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), formalized forms of decentralized organizations that are owned and governed by their members for the common good.
Your firm may soon be directly competing with a DAO.
Or a competitor who introduces a token for their most valuable consumers.
Or a contender who organizes a contest to win a famous NFT worth $50,000 or more.
We are currently in the testing phase. To learn more, you must get your hands dirty and do experiments. Consider companies such as Time, Playboy, Nike, and Adidas.
Participate personally in a relevant NFT Discord community or DAO.
Launch a token or a non-fungible token. Reward your viewers. Observe what occurs.
Begin testing immediately, as these technologies are built on web-foundational aspects that are unlikely to disappear very soon.
Oregon Advertising will soon be updating our services to include web 3 marketing services. Crypto, Metaverse marketing, NFTs, and other blockchain development services.