{"id":2447,"date":"2022-02-01T10:51:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skypointfcu.com\/wph\/workarea\/?p=2447"},"modified":"2022-02-01T11:11:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:11:25","slug":"what-is-the-metaverse-5-things-small-businesses-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skypointfcu.com\/wph\/workarea\/blog\/what-is-the-metaverse-5-things-small-businesses-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is the Metaverse? 5 Things Small Businesses Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The metaverse exploded into the public consciousness in October 2021 as Facebook, Inc. changed its name to \u201cMeta\u201d and announced multibillion-dollar investments in metaverse technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fanfare, Meta says metaverse technology is a decade or more away from maturity. In the meantime, small-business owners might want to take metaverse-related claims and investment opportunities with more than just a grain of salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best thing you can do is keep one eye on it and hold a bucket of salt,\u201d says Tom Ffiske, editor of the Immersive Wire newsletter on virtual reality, augmented reality and the metaverse. \u201cI think anyone \u2026 saying \u2018it\u2019s going to be this\u2019 might be proven wrong,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt is genuinely going to be decided by market factors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few things small-business owners should know about the metaverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. It\u2019s not here yet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we talk about the metaverse,\u201d Ffiske says, \u201cwe are talking about an interoperable realm where the multiple virtual worlds can connect together and communicate with each other and transfer items and assets between each other \u2026 Now, we currently do not have that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of a metaverse has its roots in science fiction. Neal Stephenson was the first person to use the term in his 1992 novel \u201cSnow Crash,\u201d which featured a metaverse as a sort of global virtual reality system. Since then, immersive, interconnected virtual worlds have become a mainstay of science fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the real world, Meta acknowledged that the metaverse \u201cwon\u2019t be built overnight,\u201d and it may take 10 to 15 years for metaverse products to be \u201cfully realized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile that\u2019s frustrating for those of us eager to dive right in,\u201d Meta said in a statement, \u201cit gives us time to ask the difficult questions about how they should be built.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Meta doesn\u2019t expect to profit from the metaverse any time soon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meta is putting a lot of money into the metaverse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that Meta would invest $10 billion in its metaverse projects in 2021 during a Q3 earnings call. He acknowledged \u201cthe magnitude of this bet on the future\u201d while cautioning that \u201cthis is not an investment that is going to be profitable for us anytime in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meta recommended that businesses \u201cdon\u2019t stop focusing on today\u201d and calls the investment in existing social media platforms \u201cfoundational to help grow your business in the metaverse in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Online retailers are trying out metaverse technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Augmented reality, or AR, adds virtual elements like images or sound effects to a real-world scene in real time. While many people first experience AR by playing with silly hats, masks and other video effects on apps like Snapchat, Instagram and FaceTime, AR is expected to be a key technology for the metaverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the metaverse isn\u2019t here yet, some online retailers have already added AR to their e-commerce<\/a> platforms. Here are a few prominent examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n