On today’s Business Beat, Jeff explains how the metaverse is making its way into the business world.
Tune in to the Business Beat, below, to learn more about what the metaverse is and its role in business:
Tune in to News/Talk 760 AM WJR weekday mornings at 7:11 a.m. for the WJR Business Beat. Listeners outside of the Detroit area can listen live HERE.
Are you an entrepreneur with a great story to share? If so, contact us at [email protected] and we’ll feature you on an upcoming segment of the WJR Business Beat!
Good morning, Paul! Today’s Business Beat presented by Access Point. Well, it’s Friday and on the Beat today let’s talk metaverse, shall we? I know what you’re thinking, Paul, and you’re right for thinking it. What’s a metaverse? Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out along comes the metaverse. So let’s break it down. The term metaverse really came into our consciousness recently as a result of the rebranding initiative that Facebook just underwent. On Oct. 28, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, announced that the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp would be rebranding to the new name, Meta, much like Google’s decision to restructure their business under a parent company called Alphabet in 2015. So what in the world is a metaverse? Well, the term traces back to 1992, when authored Neal Stephenson published a science-fiction novel entitled “Snow Crash.” In this work, humans interact and appear to each other as avatars in a three-dimensional virtual space. And today we are seeing more and more of these virtual worlds becoming places where people actually go and spend time and socialize and get entertained and spend money. May sound a bit fantastical to you and me, Paul, but to younger demographics, this fantasy is becoming their reality so much so that big tech and big businesses are taking this fantasy seriously. OK. The metaverse sounds cool, but how does this have anything to do with real business? Well, while the metaverse is a virtual world, don’t be fooled for a minute that this is just child’s play. We already know that people are spending millions and millions and, in some cases, billions in games that they’re playing. That is real money spent on things that augment their virtual experience. And no doubt, this is just the start. The metaverse will be an extension of that phenomenon and soon you will see real-world brands position in the metaverse both for branding purposes and beyond that conducting real-world transactions in which real dollars change hands. Boy, how times are changing, Paul. I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of startupnation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat brought to you today by Dell Technologies on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
