Well, Facebook with its change and evolution to the company "Meta" raised a hare and everyone wants to talk about it (and so do we).
But the reality is that we have been walking in the Metaverse for a long time (or at least in what will become what is desired by many, as the Metaverse).
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Extended Reality and the like are already explored in various contexts and by many other companies.
Nobody has now discovered the gunpowder, so to speak.
Game companies, for example, have already explored some of the Metaverse solutions. The Fortnite game is an example of this, and the younger ones have been making it very dynamic.
Epic Games, the company that developed and exploits the game, and after a concert for millions with artist Travis Scott, and a huge success, the saga continued.
But this is just an example. Augmented reality and virtual reality solutions have also been around for quite some time.
If you're one of those people who hunted Pokémon, you've had an augmented reality experience.
If you saw something through virtual reality goggles - surprise - you had such an experience.
Despite a lot of speculation, and the fact that there are already investors for "land or spaces" in the metaverse, everything is too premature. And even with an acceleration of digital things like the one we've had as a result of the pandemic, a few years may have to pass before there is a virtual reality that we can call a Metaverse.
The same goes for the euphoria with the NFT (which is basically related to the animation around the Metaverse), the dematerialized and fully digital goods.
Although here, and in some exceptional cases, some of these solutions can help investors to contribute to the dynamism of spaces linked to culture, such as Museums.
Technology will have to advance in order to have an immersion in the virtual. Other types of solutions will have to evolve to allow for a real experience.
Some things remain undefined, however.
Where will this Metaverse be? That is, whose will it be? Will it be universal or owned by a few companies, and where each one will have its solution, so that in the end we will not be sharing realities, but walking in parallel universes, often without being able to contact each other?
Too many questions and queries, not to mention the need to integrate technology around this new ambition of ours.
When there is some integration between technologies, software and hardware, we can have a world of entertainment and gamification.
Various articles and information have been produced on this subject, and one thing that everyone agrees on (apparently) is that we are in an embryonic stage.
For now, we are going to have fun with the worlds that we have on screens, with some virtual tours with helmets and glasses that are still not very comfortable.
We can already visit other countries and get to know many realities with these technologies, and there are many people who have not yet adopted or even know about them.
But that has helped us a lot, namely in the period of the pandemic.
Comunicadores & Associados has had several customers implement solutions of this type in order to have some proximity to their audiences. Others, having adopted these technologies early, were able to take advantage and take advantage of a contingency that has not yet abandoned us.
Many of these solutions allow, if well applied, interesting solutions that can give competitive advantages to some businesses.
But we are not yet going to be implementing more advanced solutions.
We can, for example, remember that in the case of Portuguese companies, and despite the acceleration that many have had to undergo in the last two years, 50% still do not have a digital presence.
And much of what exists is decrepit and does not benefit the contact and relationship with customers and consumers.
No longer to speak of all activities without strategy or guidance. Erratic and blown by the wind (which isn't something in the Metaverse ;) ).
Wouldn't it be better to focus on that reality first and, who knows, a little later, start speculating what we're going to do in the Metaverse.
If there is no good relationship and interaction with customers in the reality we have today, what will doom be like in parallel universes?
It is that most companies are not large and multinational. They are small and medium-sized companies. Where resources have to be applied with care.
It is this path that we have to take and help to develop.
Without forgetting that even this one still doesn't go through creating another website or profiles on social networks, or even creating an app that no one knows.
But for developing solutions that suit the business, customers, suppliers and that truly contribute to the development of the business.
So, are you in a "rush" to pay a visit to your Metaverse?