From Web 1.0 to the Metaverse – Taking advantage of Web 3.0 opportunities

The Information Era

The internet was once seen as a geek place, no future thing and that would not bring concrete conversion results for any business. In Web 1.0, communication was still static and monosyllabic, just like web pages.

Companies talked and there was no exchange, no interaction. Websites were mere business cards and companies couldn’t see much value in the technology. It was the beginning of Wikipedia and an age of abundant information, but no interaction.

Web 2.0 – The Interaction and Attention Era

Web 2.0 has arrived as a revolution in communication. Brands weren’t ready to speak up and receive answers. In other words, web 2.0 has become the era of social networks to empower the consumer/user. However, empowering the consumer has brought unintended consequences for big brands: How to interact with problems in this new environment? How to manage crises?

The answer came over time, right in the early 2000s, and companies had to learn to dialogue. This dialogue brought maturity to brands and advantages for consumers. Web 2.0 allowed the election and removal of Presidents, but it also had its downside, where anonymous people with fake profiles could defame and broadcast to many people the so-called “fake news”.

Faced with so much information and content production coming from all places, we can also call the interaction era the “Attention Era”, because in a sea of information it is difficult to digest everything that’s happening. Web 2.0 was also the time of Big Techs consolidation, such as: Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple. Without the LGPD, in Brazil, these companies make it a party around the data of their consumers as a bargaining chip and with all the traceability of navigation, they were able to trace behavior and purchase profiles to offer products and services from other companies. Consumers lost their right to privacy and data became the new oil.

The revolution from web 2.0 to web 3.0 – The Semantic Age

In 2008, Bitcoin and blockchain technology appear. The protocol of trust, eliminating the need of intermediaries, enabling all types of business to be done in a decentralized manner. It can even provide the decentralized operation of projects and division of dividends, making Web 3.0, the financial revolution, of conscience and of rights distribution. Far beyond web 2.0.

Web 3.0 and the Metaverse – The Decentralization Era

It is impossible to talk about Web3 and Metaverse without talking about Blockchain, NFT’s, Tokenization and cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain, without a doubt, is one of the biggest technological revolutions of recent times. As a decentralized set of recording technologies, it eliminates middlemen. In addition to being immutable, it is highly secure. This new technology will make it possible to resurrect Second Life, a solution created in the early 2000s, but ahead of its time, since that time there was no technology to support the idea of ​​creating a parallel, virtual world.

But what’s Metaverse? Simply a virtual extension of real life. There will be interoperability between real and virtual life. It is quite likely that many people have resistance initially and at the same time others throw themselves into it as a means of dealing with the difficulties of living in “real life”.

Most people believe that this is a passing madness and that this idea will soon die. But it is worth remembering that at the beginning of the internet it was also like this. But misunderstood nerds like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs understood people’s needs and, through simple solutions, turned companies like Apple and Microsoft into the biggest names of the 21st century, indispensable in the daily lives of most of the population.

NFT: Usability or just a wave?

Predicting the future of technology is a bit risky, but I decided to take a chance. NFTs are still misunderstood by many people, which makes a debate difficult. If you believe that Monalisa’s painting is a unique work of art and that if reproduced it will always be a mere copy, you already understand what an NFT (Non Fungible Token) is. Still, it’s common to see collections of NFT’s. That same work can be determined to have 10 units. Therefore, these 10 units are authentic.

Asset tokenization

Basically tokenization is the way to represent a real asset as a digital asset. In other words, let’s imagine a condominium of houses divided into quotas (tokens) so that several people can buy these fractions of this condominium. Another simple example would be a work of art, such as a Van Gogh painting divided into several tokens. As this work or this condominium increases in value, automatically the token backed by the asset also increases in value. We can say that’s like a finance stock.

Crytpocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies or digital coins as they’re also known, are nothing more than a coin as we have in the real world. Just like the Euro, the Dollar or the Yene there is Bitcoin, Ethereum and Cardano. They emerged based on Blockchain technology.

Companies in the Metaverse

Gucci, Balenciaga, Nike, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s are some of the companies betting on the metaverse.

Recently, Gucci opened a store in the metaverse in partnership with digital artist Wagmi-San, with the aim of selecting 5,000 people to obtain their digital clothing collections. The partnership was closed with the New Tokyo project, creator of the 10KTF virtual store.

McDonald’s has also taken a position itself in the metaverse and will cross over from digital to real life. The fast food chain will have a store that will deliver food in the virtual and real world. Therefore, the user will be able to place his order in the metaverse and receive the real food at his home. The brand will also provide entertainment services and events in the metaverse, with real and virtual online concerts.

Nike did not want to be left out and has already reached the metaverse by buying a virtual sneaker factory, RTFKT. This company had already launched the collection of NFTs CryptoPunks —, created in partnership with the artist FEWOCiOUS, and which sold at an auction earlier this year more than 600 pairs of sneakers, for about US$ 3.1 million.

Even with all these companies with heavy bets on the Metaverse, many people have already stated that they will never enter the virtual space, but in many situations, people will be forced to use the Metaverse. Can you imagine a customer setting up a meeting at his company’s office in the metaverse and the salesperson refusing to go there?

The question is not whether you will enter the metaverse, but when!