Metaverse, NFTs, and… Blogging?

First of all, I just want to pat myself on the back for being the kind of timing. In last week’s issue, I mentioned a few niches that I think are heating up right now. And one of them was VR and metaverses.

Then, last week, Zuck came out talking all about the metaverse and literally changed the company name to “Meta”.

Nailed it! 🤪

OK, just kidding. 🤣

If you didn’t catch his talk, you can watch the cliff notes version of it here.

But, here’s the thing…

The idea of the metaverse didn’t start with Zuckerburg. He’s just trying to get out ahead of it and adapt. And he obviously sees the writing on the wall. Enough so to literally shift the whole company in that direction.

But, let’s look at this. What impact is the metaverse – or Web 3.0 – going to have on us as content creators and blog owners?

The next internet (which is already well under way) is going to be centered around AR and VR. It is going to blur the line between the physical world and the digital world. Think of the current internet as 2D and the new internet will be 3D. Where AR/VR devices will likely become as common as a mobile phone.

Now, combine this with crypto and blockchain. A decentralized internet where you can actually OWN things in the digital world (via NFTs). Where value can be exchanged by way of cryptocurrency. Where sending money in a verifiable, permissionless way will be as easy as sending an email.

I think we’re going to see an entire parallel economy rise up in the metaverse. Entire stores. Events. Conferences. Real estate. All of it… digital.

So, I’ve been thinking about the impact of this on bloggers, content creators, online course creators, etc.

Because what we do isn’t going anywhere. But, how we do it might need to change. Plus, those who take action on this stuff early are going to be much better positioned.

When I look into my crystal ball, here’s a few things I can see happening…

Online Conferences. And, no, we’re not talking about just streaming video and big Zoom sessions. We’re talking about virtual conferences that have almost all of the features of an in-person conference, but all happening in the metaverse. Where people can attend via their VR headset, interact with attendees much like they would in real life, visit company booths, etc. All from home… in the metaverse.

Virtual Masterminds / Training. Same basic idea as the online conference, but for smaller groups. Think about all the mastermind groups and training sessions that happen now. Well, in the metaverse, you could meet in a meeting room and have a full meeting almost like being in person. As the avatars become more life-like and representative of ourselves, it becomes much more like actually being in the room.

Virtual Real Estate. What’s to stop an online learning company from acquiring virtual real estate and building an actual school in the metaverse? Think about Blog Marketing Academy having a “building” in the metaverse where people can go in and out, attend classes, etc. This kind of thing is going to happen… mark my words. Online companies will own virtual offices, virtual schools, virtual stores, etc. And it will be real estate that is actually owned and has market value and can be sold… just like real estate in the physical world.

Community NFTs. Member communities where people can buy/sell their spot in the community via an NFT. That NFT grants rights to certain membership perks, special access to events, protected content, etc. Some community leaders might even offer SWAG or do Merch… but it is all digital and ownership is done as an NFT.

Community Currencies. The thing about a crypto is that it can be spun up for any reason. Think about having gamification in your community where they earn actual crypto with a monetary value. That currency would be used within your own site to purchase things, but also… those coins could be transferred off site, stored in their wallet, and perhaps even exchangable for other coins on DeFi exchanges.

One might wonder…

What’s going to happen to blogging? Or email lists?

Personally, I don’t think it will go anywhere. People will still be reading content.

I do think metaverse content is going to need to be part of the mix, however. Similar to how video and podcasting make sense today.

Also, I think we’ll need to likely make some changes to ensure our content is “compatible” with however the tech evolves for being displayed within various virtual worlds. I’m sure some APIs will be developed and we’ll need to make sure our content works with it.

For instance, I think reading content on virtual screens is going to be more prevalent as today’s computer monitors begin to make way for fully virtual screens in VR, or augmented displays where our “monitors” appear in our glasses and look like they’re just floating in space.

So, we’ll need to keep an eye out for all that.

I also think online businesses will need to adapt to not knowing exactly who people are. People will have much more control over their identity. Users will be control over access to their data.

Point is…

This next decade is going to see massive, massive change on many fronts. Much of it driven by technology.

The internet and the very economy is going to shift because of it. Heck, I think it could change entire countries, frankly.

In these early days, though, I think the things to pay the most attention to are things like NFTs and virtual real estate. We’re still really early and it is still complicated to many, but I think this stuff will become more relevant to all of us.

If it wasn’t such a big deal, Zuck would not have changed their entire corporate direction around it.