14. The Metaverse and Its Role in Social Media

The word “metaverse” was first used in the 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It is described as a massive virtual environment in which users interact through digital avatars. Since then, real-world applications of virtual worlds like Second Life, Roblox or Fortnite have been created with varying market successes. Nevertheless, with an increase in quality and a decrease in costs of VR and AR technology, many big companies work on their version of the metaverse, the most famous examples of which are Facebook, which rebranded itself as Meta in 2021 and launched Horizon Worlds, utilizing its acquisition of Oculus, and Microsoft, which is working on a virtual work environment coined Mesh. The transformational impact of the metaverse could be significant as it gives users a unique way of communicating, collaborating and engaging with one another in a highly immersive and interactive environment. The idea of the Metaverse encompasses not only technological innovation spanning from widely different fields like HR/AR to blockchain and artificial intelligence but also new legal and sociotechnical perspectives concerning for example deviant user interactions, data security, mental health, or sociological impact on society. Should the metaverse really become an integrated immersive ecosystem which allowed users to seamlessly switch between the real and the virtual, this would profoundly change the way users can work, interact, and socialize; yet, it would also force companies to rethink their user interactions as well as their communication and sales channels. For some industries, for example, education, leisure, health, or tourism, it could disrupt existing business models and create opportunities for completely new products and services. This study aims at exploring the potential of the metaverse, particularly for social media. For this purpose, different definitions and visions for the metaverse from big tech and academia are first critically compared to derive constituent features of the metaverse from there. Drawing from current case studies and academic literature, key challenges and opportunities are discussed with a focus on marketing and business applications.