What Is The Metaverse?
Andy Serwer and Max Zahn wrote a really good short and easy-to-read article on Yahoo Finance of what the metaverse is and why it matters to you.
They described the metaverse as “the next mega-phase of the internet, a merging of the physical world with extended reality, augmented reality and virtual reality that is just beginning to revolutionize the way we interact, work and live.”
And then they referenced how the Wall Street Journal describes the metaverse: “an extensive online world transcending individual tech platforms, where people exist in immersive, shared virtual spaces. Through avatars, people would be able to try on items available in stores or attend concerts with friends, just as they would offline.”
And here is how Mark Zuckerberg describes the metaverse: “It’s a virtual environment where you can be present with people in digital spaces. You can kind of think about this as an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at. We believe that this is going to be the successor to the mobile internet.”
The metaverse doesn’t fully exist yet but there are some early approximations of it that include Roblox, Second Life and Fortnite.
An associate professor at Michigan State University named Rabindra Ratan describes the metaverse as “a network of interconnected virtual worlds in the same way the World Wide Web is a network of interconnected website[s]. I can jump in a web browser, cruise from one website to another. In the future, you will jump in the Metaverse browser from one virtual world to another to another.”
Crypto or some different and evolved form of crypto is believed to be the currency of the metaverse.
Facebook has its eyes set on the metaverse and so does Microsoft. Here is what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on Microsoft’s July 27 earnings call, “As the digital and physical worlds converge, we are leading in a new layer of the infrastructure stack, the enterprise Metaverse.”
Here are some possible companies (stocks) that are currently focused on the metaverse and could be beneficiaries: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Unity Software. And here are some of the private companies who could be beneficiaries as well: Valve, Ubiquity6, Singularity 6, Genvid, Magic Leap and Epic Games.
Despite the hype and excitement of the metaverse, Rabindra Ratan of Michigan State University has some valid concerns that include data tracking and privacy by observing your avatar’s actions and through machine algorithms.