Over the past few months, it’s clear that it is dominating podcasts, blogs and the tech industry… even for Super Bowl LVI. We see brands wondering how they should approach the Metaverse – is it worth the investment, is it right for us? Before answering this, we need to know what the heck the Metaverse is. And during our initial research, we found that there are hundreds of definitions out there. Some simple, some complex – some that explore tokens and virtual real estate where others are more simplified and rooted in a broader experience online.
What is the Metaverse?
New year, new buzzwords. One topic we’re closely studying now is the Metaverse.
We made the heavy lifting simple for you. Here are our top 5 definitions we found – those that brought clarity, focus and understanding of what the metaverse is.
“The metaverse is a holistic digital world built on the inseparable necessities of property ownership and a functional economy.”
- Doug Clinton, Loop Funds
“A world in which our day-to-day lives transcend a single reality and includes virtual reality as well. Over time, it has come to encompass the VR experiences, AR initiatives and other digital simulations that have become commonplace in the modern day and age.”
Gary Fowler, Forbes
“The metaverse is a holistic digital world built on the inseparable necessities of property ownership and a functional economy.”
- Doug Clinton, Loop Funds
As the metaverse changes and evolves, we know what’s true in January 2022 may not be true three months, six months or even a year from now. Follow along as we track through primary, quantitative online research focusing on awareness, familiarity and salience of defining the metaverse. We’ve designed a study using OnePulse, one of our primary research tools we use for clients that offers immediate, unlimited access to primary quantitative polling. We’ll continue to track these three elements each quarter through OnePulse surveys.
Here’s what we found out in our first survey:
OnePulse – “What is the Metaverse” – 500 respondents, 1/20/22
Q1. How much do you know about the metaverse? (0 = never heard of it; 100 = expert)
- Average: 30.8
- Nearly 20% of respondents (97/500) said they had never heard of the metaverse, while only 13/500 (3%) said they were an expert
Q2. In one sentence give your definition of the metaverse
- Standouts from 0-10 Rating:
- Some weird crap Facebook is trying to profit off of
- Some kind of NFT crypto game
- A virtual space in which real life events are emulated
- Standouts from 40-60 rating:
- An alternate world that takes place online
- A virtual world that allows people to interact differently than before
- A new concept Facebook is going after involving augmented/virtual reality
- An online world where people can assume personas and interact with others
- It’s club penguin but with people
- Standouts from 90-100 rating:
- An online arena designed to promote interactions
- Inclusive of the overall VR environments of the world
- A second universe where anything can happen
Q3. The following are a variety of metaverse definitions. Please rank them in order of preference (1 = most preferred, 5 = least preferred) [definitions were presented in random order]
-
- “Simulated worlds that model our reality or even go beyond it.”
- Average rank 2.2, 250 1st place votes
- “Any digital experience on the internet that is persistent, immersive, three dimensional and virtual, as in, not happening in the physical world.”
- Average rank 2.6, 79 1st place votes
- “The all-encompassing space in which all digital experience sits; the observable digital universe made up of millions of digital galaxies.”
- Average rank 3.2, 74 1st place votes
- “A holistic digital world built on the inseparable necessities of property ownership and a functional economy.”
- Average rank 3.4, 32 1st place votes
- “A world in which our day-to-day lives transcend a single reality and includes virtual reality as well.”
- Average rank 3.6, 65 1st place votes
- “Simulated worlds that model our reality or even go beyond it.”
We’ll keep listening as the year progresses and we find ourselves more into the Metaverse.
