Hey, I'm Eric, a Product Manager at Publicis Sapient, and I'm here to answer questions from the internet about Web3 and the Metaverse. Someone on Quora asked, what is the Metaverse and why should we care about it? Well, put simply, the Metaverse is a term that refers to a collective virtual space. This is a convergence of the physical and virtual worlds. This virtual space can include augmented reality, virtual worlds, and other forms of digital media to create a more immersive environment. We can refer to the Metaverse as the next iteration of the experience layer of the internet. So instead of static web pages that you see today, we'll see a more immersive kind of content creation for the World Wide Web.
So MasterMomo007 on Twitter asks, so tell me, what is Web3? Web3 represents the next iteration of the internet, one that focuses more on decentralization. This is a promise to shift the power away from these big tech gatekeepers to the individual users. So when we see this journey to Web3, we can start with the Web1 era, where we have more informative web pages such as Google or eBay, where consumers could only read what was on the internet. Then we shifted to Web2, which was more interactive. We saw the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, all of these social media giants becoming more interactive with the consumer. Now we're shifting into a more immersive internet, whereby the power of blockchain and AR and VR, we're actually gaining back control for the user, where they have actually property and ownership rights in the internet, which they haven't had before. This new layer creates a more immersive environment for the individual user and consumers alike.
On Google, people are asking, what is the difference between Web3 and Metaverse? Well, Web3 is essentially the next iteration of the internet. And the internet is made up of three components. It has an experience layer, a technology layer, and a content layer. And Metaverse is that experience layer, which is how we're interacting with the World Wide Web in terms of a more immersive fashion.
Someone on Quora asks, what are the serious ethical challenges presented by the hyper real Metaverse? These challenges are the similar ones that we face today with social media sites. So in the Metaverse, people might be subject to online harassment, online bullying, and because of these interactive and immersive environments, we might even be subject to internet trolls in a more immersive way. Guardrails need to be put into place and safety policies need to be aligned to ensure a safe and fun environment for all people enjoying these virtual environments.
Someone on Quora asks, what are the business opportunities in the Metaverse? Firstly, retailers benefit a lot from the Metaverse. Because of these virtual and interactive spaces, retailers can actually pitch and promote their products in these new immersive environments. These allow consumers and users to actually try on some of their goods before actually purchasing them. So they also get a more immersive feel for the brand and some of the values it holds. There's also a lot of business opportunities for increased productivity. So virtual worlds such as the Horizon can actually facilitate meetings for individuals. So instead of having to travel 2,000 miles across the world, you can actually put on your virtual gear and actually enter the Metaverse to actually conduct these meetings, saving travel costs and spending for businesses. There's also ways of actually promoting some of the products they have, especially for B2B enterprises, to actually showcase some of these new innovations directly to the consumer or to some of these business partners. That way, in these virtual spaces, you can create a more immersive environment to actually create more value and demand for some of your products.
Someone on Quora asks, how will the Metaverse affect business marketing? Well, JP Morgan actually predicts by the year 2027, in-game ad spending will hit $18.4 billion yearly in the Metaverse. So this is catering towards this new generation of consumers who are spending more time online than actually interacting with the physical world. This new way of interaction actually increases business marketing as eyes and new faces are actually going to explore these Metaverse opportunities and actually cater advertisements directly to the consumer and cater for their personal preferences due to the data that they actually hold for that individual. I'm a self-proclaimed futurist, so I love innovation and being at Publicisapien puts me at the forefront of digital transformation. This allows me to add value to existing clients and actually bridge the gap between some of these legacy systems that we have and some of these new technologies that we're going to be promising to bring for consumers in the future.