Metaverse: Hype? Hope? Hell?

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Experts are split about the likely evolution of a truly immersive ‘metaverse.’ They expect that augmented- and mixed-reality enhancements will become more useful in people’s daily lives. Many worry that current online problems may be magnified if Web3 development is led by those who built today’s dominant web platforms.

Metaverse:  Hype? Hope? Hell?  Maybe all three. 

Today in Global Small Business: Where Is Your Organization In Its Leadership Journey?

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• We need leaders we can trust, who genuinely care and connect with us.  Is that you?
• How the rules of success are changing.
• What should you be reading this summer to stay resilient? Find out here from CEOs, founders, Nobel Prize winners, editors-in-chief, economists, and government leaders from around the world.
• Quote of the week: “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Build a metaverse strategy to deliver sustainable outcomes.
• Learn about resilient transformation.

 

Seriously, What Does Metaverse Mean?

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Mentally replace the phrase “the metaverse” in a sentence with “cyberspace.”  That's what the folks at Wired magazine wants you to do.

Ninety percent of the time, the meaning won't substantially change. That's because the term doesn't really refer to any one specific type of technology, but rather a broad (and often speculative) shift in how we interact with technology. And it's entirely possible that the term itself will eventually become just as antiquated, even as the specific technology it once described becomes commonplace. 

CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg or Satya Nadella talk about the metaverse as the future of the internet. Or it's a video game. Or maybe it's a deeply uncomfortable, worse version of Zoom?

So, with all this in mind.  Seriously, what does Metaverse mean?

Today in Global Small Business: An Embodied Internet

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Facebook plans to rebrand as a metaverse company, one that the CEO envisions as an embodied Internet.
• How to help Africans prove their identify online.  Smile Identity has the answer.
• Swiss startup Tide Ocean Material is working with a global network of fishers to upcycle ocean-bound plastic.
• Quote of the week: "Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant." – Mitch Kapor
• Wonder Brands raised $20M to build a portfolio of e-commerce brands that operate in the Mercado Libre and Amazon ecosystems.
• Dubai, The Bahamas, Sweden, and Nigeria have all launched their own digital currency, called “central bank digital currency” (CBDC). Now, 81 countries are exploring doing the same.