How will the metaverse affect your work in 2022? 🕹

While this might feel like a new phenomenon due to Facebook's 2020 rebranding as ‘meta’, the term metaverse was first coined in 1992 by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson. Of course more recently, Mark Zuckerberg has reclaimed the word and described his variation of the metaverse as “an embodied internet that you're inside of, rather than just looking at”. So what does an 'embodied internet' mean for you and your work? Scroll down to find out more.

According to Forbes, the metaverse is “a convergence of our physical and digital lives that is being brought on by advancements in internet connectivity, AR/VR and blockchain”.

Essentially, it is a new age of the internet, one which we are literally able to live ‘in’ through VR. Some have hailed it as the solution to remote working, with companies like Microsoft and Facebook launching VR meeting rooms which are predicted to be in use by late 2022.

Could these workrooms bring about the end of Zoom? Microsoft’s Mesh, due to be released this year as a part of Teams, boasts realistic interactions, team training and endless design and collaboration opportunities. Facebook’s Horizon Workrooms promises an ‘infinite office’, allowing you to essentially work anywhere in the ‘verse. Spare room study got you down? Why not take yourself off to the beach for a day of inspired working.

In the forever forward thinking fashion world, many brands are already hosting VR fashion shows and partnering with online communities. Balenciaga is currently the leading fashion frontier, partnering with online world Fortnite, but also setting up their own dedicated business to focus on marketing and commerce in the metaverse. With Burberry and Louis Vuitton not far behind farming NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and that digital Gucci bag, the metaverse is truly in vogue.

Is this something you see your workplace adopting? Let us know your thoughts!