Web 3.0: An Exponential Evolution for the Next Generations

The metaverse represents for most of the world's population completely unknown territory. 

Although today it is a relatively new concept, in 1992 the first outlines of virtual worlds were already being drawn. At least it was so in literature, through the voice of the American writer Neal Stephenson in his novel, Snow Crash. And later, in 2003, we began to experience it through what could be considered the first virtual space, Social Life, and through video games and the huge communities that were forged as a result of their growth. 

There is no universal definition but what best explains it, in my opinion, is a space where reality and the digital world converge. To place ourselves in a cyberspace in which through the use of different technologies such as Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence we access simulated environments. In which you can learn, do business, share entertainment experiences, acquire properties, hire services and give rise to freedom of identity, where each person can choose how to represent themselves without being limited by their physical appearance, gender, nationality, skin color or any other condition. 

Among its main characteristics we find that it is an eminently interactive environment, they are spaces where we acquire a kind of physical identity represented by an avatar to interact with others. In addition, the metaverse is a space that develops independently of whether we are present or not, at one time or another. It simply continues to expand and enrich itself with the participation of others, as if it had a life of its own. And finally, and possibly the most controversial aspect of this space is that it is decentralized, which means that it does not belong to a company but to the users, and it offers blockchain technology to make transactions in virtual economies, through NFT, cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. 

However, this technological revolution, like many others, has aroused controversy and is rejected by many and idolized by others. The rejection seems to correspond not only to the generation gap but also to the lack of privacy and security issues; and the reasoning that it will end up further deteriorating the ability to relate to each other. This concern stems from psychosocial factors that have been worsened due to isolation, the economic crisis and an increase in violence. According to its detractors, the metaverse seeks a way out of this reality through alternate worlds. While supporters point out that we are facing an unpostponable future for a great number of industries, and a new way of communicating and doing business. 

Numerous surveys have already been carried out on this subject, and they confirm this premise: younger generations are naturally the most open-minded to participate in these cyberspaces. 

A survey conducted by the company Ipsos, applied to 1,120 US adults at the end of July 2022, showed that 39 percent of respondents did not find the metaverse personally interesting, while 25 percent believe it is mainly for gamers, and 22 percent see it as a risk to their privacy, while the other 20 percent think it is just a fad. While only 19 percent believe that the metaverse will allow them to do new things and only 17 percent say they find it exciting.

For the younger generation, in particular Generation Z, skills development is also an area of interest, with nearly one-third of those respondents and millennials saying they might want to participate in virtual learning of a personal or job skill. Most US adults in the survey said they are not interested in doing things in the metaverse.

Despite its detractors, it is now a reality in which companies from different sectors have already invested millions. Innovation specialists indicate that even in an emerging phase this new virtual environment is here to stay and will transform itself vertiginously in our immediate future. 

The virtual ecosystem, with artificial intelligence, augmented reality and NFTs, are an uncertain but necessary bet for those who want to understand and communicate at an early stage, with a very specific niche of consumers who are setting the pace in the new forms of consumption and the economy of the present and the immediate future. 

This promise of reaching the digitally native consumer, though, is somewhat uncertain because if we have learned anything in recent years, it is that this consumer is as diverse as he or she is changeable.   

While most studies indicate that Generation Z is hyper-connected and gives preference to all digital transactions, and that they are governed by certain values in their lifestyle such as mental health, education, economic security, civic engagement, racial equality and the environment, other surveys, such as one conducted by Rakuten covering 1,800 people between 16 and 25 years, in Spain, Japan, the UK and the US, ensure that physical purchases are increasingly important for this generation of young people. In addition, price, quality and design are the main purchasing priorities ahead of sustainability and brand image. In this context, in such a versatile, changing and diverse world, we will not be able to segment our consumers into large groups but into diverse and varied tribes that brands will have to adapt to and decipher.  

Some companies have already performed incursions into the different territories of the metaverse, looking for this interaction and possibly to be the first to touch these limits of technology and approach a very coveted niche consumer today: the digital natives.

Some sectors, such as fashion, art and the beverage industry, have anticipated and are already active in this virtual universe. We can find customized products for sale, guided tours to distilleries and tastings with brand ambassadors, live concerts, conferences, showrooms, art exhibitions, auctions, guided experiences through celebrity residences in the metaverse, land or property sales, and much more. As an experiment, they represent an opportunity not only for awareness but also for social listening through concepts that are so traditional in the marketing and business environment, such as trial, error and pivoting. That will ultimately end up translating into conversion and sales. 

The metaverse is one more channel, still misunderstood, for the exchange of eminently experiential digital products and services with real economic value. 

The incursion of some of these companies could be considered a success, in due proportion. Since participation in this cyberspace, although it is increasing, still does not represent exorbitant figures. This is shown by the survey conducted earlier this year by consulting firm Accenture, which interviewed more than 11,000 consumers in 16 countries revealed that 64 percent of respondents had purchased a virtual good or participated in a virtual experience by 2021. The same research also revealed that 42 percent of participants had visited a vendor in the virtual world to get advice on completing a transaction or exploring a space to purchase a physical item, while 56 percent planned to do so by 2022. 

In this context, one of the sectors where this type of technology is emerging with success is the healthcare sector through simulation to perform surgeries and prevent errors,evaluate risk or train students in certain processes. According to some analysts, it is estimated that the value of the digital health market will be in 2027 at 600,000 million dollars. According to Boris Valls Guardiola, expert in innovation and intrapreneurship ecosystems of Novartis. 

Inside the metaverse we can find digital versions of physical products, virtual showcases, with the possibility of trading on other terms. Apart from the fall of bitcoin and Meta shares. This trend represents one of the biggest revolutions in the social and economic landscape in recent years.

It has undoubtedly opened up a much more diverse horizon for how we will relate and do business in the future. The transition will not be immediate or definitive; services and commodities will still have to be available in the traditional way. We cannot ignore the fact that a large percentage of the world's population in less developed countries will remain on the margins of access to these environments, due to the lack of resources, education and technology required to interact successfully with these platforms.

Another trend that is changing the way these spaces behave, is with the fusion of both worlds, the physical and the digital, through the generation of new professions within these virtual environments. Where we can even find professional training to work in the metaverse, i.e., specialized academies to learn to develop or provide services within the metaverse. From audiovisual producers, designers, entrepreneurs, businessmen, architects, administrators focused on products and services that are consumed within this ecosystem.

An interesting example of this is, the design of scenarios or virtual spaces within the metaverse could be compared in proportion to the time when the sale of web domains began, those who saw the potential of acquiring the most popular ones and did so, found a very profitable investment. Today, we are still bidding for domains and some experts on the subject assure that in the case of metaverse spaces it will be the same. If the above sounds a bit fanciful, the numbers do not lie to us, to date there are registered revenues of 95 million euros for the purchase and sale of properties within the metaverse. 

This not only represents a logical opportunity for consumer brands. Artificial intelligence and augmented reality and their fusion in these spaces also allow the development and evolution of other industries or niches, allowing sectors such as the automotive, space or industrial, create replicas of objects or products and test them virtually, this offers the advantage of performing dangerous tests reducing certain risks or investment of resources, or those focused on the environment to understand the degradation of ecosystems in certain parts of the world from simulators and thereby predict adverse scenarios.

In some ways, this technological change also represents risks. Disseminating false or hateful information, identity theft, well, risks very similar to those of ordinary social networks. What is dangerous is not the technology but the use that can be made of it.

In this scenario, the obligatory question for those of us dedicated to marketing and communication is: What role does communication play, how to ensure a close and lasting relationship between brands and their consumers in an environment that promises territories where messages are consumed and absorbed in a very different way, where consumers' attention is divided among multiple platforms and their tastes and preferences change at a speed that few are able to reach. 

We are entering a new concept of omnichannel, where paradoxically brands will need to be more human but fit for "non-human" environments to maintain an authentic connection with their audiences. 

"This technological, content evolution, migrating to artificial intelligence and virtual reality leveraged experiences, implies an exponential evolution in the economic, cultural and social exchange of the next generations. There is no more than experimenting to try to understand this universe, where trial and error, as in any venture, will be the key to make the most of this bet on the future, with results that are impossible to predict."