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Into the Metaverse: The Essential Guide to the Business Opportunities of the Web3 Era
An illuminating insight into the Metaverse - what it is, how it works, and why it will soon be playing a major role in business, technology and society.
In Into the Metaverse, Cathy Hackl, a globally recognized futurist and one of the world's first Chief Metaverse Officers, shares her insights on what companies need to do to harness the next iteration of the internet - the metaverse. In this book you'll find a wealth of information on issues such
- What is the metaverse and what it means for your brand, organization or company
- How to make money in the metaverse through understanding the underlying concepts behind it such as gaming, synthetic media, spatial computing and artificial intelligence.
- How to lead in the metaverse through industries that are already forging ahead, such as fashion and marketing.
- Who should manage the metaverse function within your organization and why some companies should consider creating a role for a Chief Metaverse Officer.
- Finally, how to protect the metaverse and action steps you can take towards the future.
Essential reading for any executive, Into the Metaverse , will reshape how you think about the internet and its place for those who want to lead successful businesses, today and into the future. If the internet was first used to connect us to information, and then developed into a social media forum to connect people, then Web3, which connects people, places and things, will help enable the successor state to today's mobile internet - the Metaverse. It will bring together and merge our physical and digital lives, and - in the same way that social media upended our lives and our businesses - the Metaverse will shake things up even more. Into the Metaverse is the essential business guide to understanding the ground-breaking technologies that enable this monumental shift and the opportunities it presents from a business and societal perspective.
In Into the Metaverse, Cathy Hackl, a globally recognized futurist and one of the world's first Chief Metaverse Officers, shares her insights on what companies need to do to harness the next iteration of the internet - the metaverse. In this book you'll find a wealth of information on issues such
- What is the metaverse and what it means for your brand, organization or company
- How to make money in the metaverse through understanding the underlying concepts behind it such as gaming, synthetic media, spatial computing and artificial intelligence.
- How to lead in the metaverse through industries that are already forging ahead, such as fashion and marketing.
- Who should manage the metaverse function within your organization and why some companies should consider creating a role for a Chief Metaverse Officer.
- Finally, how to protect the metaverse and action steps you can take towards the future.
Essential reading for any executive, Into the Metaverse , will reshape how you think about the internet and its place for those who want to lead successful businesses, today and into the future. If the internet was first used to connect us to information, and then developed into a social media forum to connect people, then Web3, which connects people, places and things, will help enable the successor state to today's mobile internet - the Metaverse. It will bring together and merge our physical and digital lives, and - in the same way that social media upended our lives and our businesses - the Metaverse will shake things up even more. Into the Metaverse is the essential business guide to understanding the ground-breaking technologies that enable this monumental shift and the opportunities it presents from a business and societal perspective.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published January 17, 2023
27 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 26, 2023
I read the book shortly after its publication, and I found it to be quite insightful. It provides a comprehensive overview of the Metaverse as of early 2023. However, given the rapidly evolving nature of this field, some of the content may soon become outdated. Nevertheless, if you are new to the concept of the Metaverse or need a list of major relevant technologies, companies, and trends associated with it, I would recommend giving this book a try
January 23, 2023
As Stevo’s Novel Ideas, I am a long-time book reviewer, member of the media, an Influencer, and a content provider. I received this book as a free review copy from either the publisher, a publicist, or the author, and have not been otherwise compensated for reviewing or recommending it. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This book was Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 1/22, as selected by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet and Stevo's Novel Ideas. An illuminating insight into the Metaverse - what it is, how it works, and why it will soon be playing a major role in business, technology and society.
Due to the reluctance of investors to embrace technologies that merge our physical and digital realities, it's been an up-and-down year for WEB3 in general and the Metaverse in particular, but Internet futurists are still betting that the Metaverse will become a mainstay in entertainment and, eventually, in business.
Cathy Hackl, one of the world's first Chief Metaverse Officers, is undaunted by the lack of Metaverse adoption. In her new book, "Into the Metaverse," she sees a need for "thousands of professionals" to take on the responsibilities of the Metaverse's evolving technology and applications. The goal of her book is to prepare us to do business with, and as, avatars with virtual identities in virtual worlds, buying products from virtual stores with crypto wallets.
Creating the technology is the easy part. Most of it is already there. The hard part is making it easy to use, getting businesses to adopt it, and getting people to use it. This is why Hackl says most of the Chief Metaverse Officers will have backgrounds in marketing and gaming.
If working in the Metaverse excites you, this is the handbook for taking a lead role.
Find more Business Books of the Week on my Goodreads Listopia page at https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9..., and find many more reviewed and recommended books and products by searching for me on Google.
This book was Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 1/22, as selected by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet and Stevo's Novel Ideas. An illuminating insight into the Metaverse - what it is, how it works, and why it will soon be playing a major role in business, technology and society.
Due to the reluctance of investors to embrace technologies that merge our physical and digital realities, it's been an up-and-down year for WEB3 in general and the Metaverse in particular, but Internet futurists are still betting that the Metaverse will become a mainstay in entertainment and, eventually, in business.
Cathy Hackl, one of the world's first Chief Metaverse Officers, is undaunted by the lack of Metaverse adoption. In her new book, "Into the Metaverse," she sees a need for "thousands of professionals" to take on the responsibilities of the Metaverse's evolving technology and applications. The goal of her book is to prepare us to do business with, and as, avatars with virtual identities in virtual worlds, buying products from virtual stores with crypto wallets.
Creating the technology is the easy part. Most of it is already there. The hard part is making it easy to use, getting businesses to adopt it, and getting people to use it. This is why Hackl says most of the Chief Metaverse Officers will have backgrounds in marketing and gaming.
If working in the Metaverse excites you, this is the handbook for taking a lead role.
Find more Business Books of the Week on my Goodreads Listopia page at https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9..., and find many more reviewed and recommended books and products by searching for me on Google.
June 9, 2023
Took a two mile walk with my dog because I wanted to keep listening. Since the Metaverse is driven by social it seems important that as a web2 professional I get up to speed.
People like Hackl and Sinead Bovell make me want to be more intellectually curious.
They have a way of reasearching and pulling on threads for big tech questions that I can’t wrap my mind around or even know where to start. But I just keep consuming their content and hope something rubs off.
People like Hackl and Sinead Bovell make me want to be more intellectually curious.
They have a way of reasearching and pulling on threads for big tech questions that I can’t wrap my mind around or even know where to start. But I just keep consuming their content and hope something rubs off.
May 19, 2023
The metaverse, declares Hackl in the book’s introduction, is already “a full-fledged economy of goods and services that businesses or individuals can participate in.” Moreover, CEOs who don’t get in on it are to be pitied: “Many will refuse to admit that this is the opportunity of a lifetime,” writes Hackl. “One, of course, is reminded of the individual who could have purchased an initial offering of Bitcoin for $20 but declined, thinking it was a scam.”
The problem is it’s hard to make a compelling case for pursuing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity now that the initial excitement around the metaverse as the next big thing has given way to the next next big thing, ChatGPT. Hackl points to the big bet on the metaverse made in 2021 by the company formerly known as Facebook, but Mark Zuckerberg pared that back a few months ago. (Microsoft and several other major companies cut funding to their metaverse initiatives earlier this year, too.) Hackl also calls out the 2021 launch of Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF as a gauge of positive investor interest, but two years later, it is trading around 40 percent below its issue price.
Moreover, "Into the Metaverse" contains few examples of anyone making money in this new economy. Hackl offers up Beeple, a digital artist, who earned $70 million or so selling NFTs and rapper Travis Scott, who attracted 12 million people to a concert on the Fortnite gaming platform and grossed $20 million, but neither example entails the kind of money that is going to raise eyebrows in the C-suites of most large companies.
It also doesn’t help that Hackl, who named herself the world’s first Chief Metaverse Officer in 2020, tends to waffle. A few sentences after she urges readers to have “enough foresight and drive to get in on the ground floor of future” and become masters of the metaverse, she writes that the metaverse is “an idea more than a reality.”
Hackl gets on firmer ground when she describes how a host of enabling technologies — spatial computing; AI; blockchain and its virtual assets; user interfaces and graphics; virtual and augmented reality; and 5G and advanced networks — are converging to create an “intertwining of our physical and digital lives.” The result, she writes, will be a “seamless flow from what we see and interact with physically to a virtual environment.”
Hackl also does a good job of explaining why and how some industries are pioneering the metaverse. Online gaming with its legions of VR-googled players is one example. Companies like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft already have the kinds of platforms that will attract metaverse customers. “It’s the social side of games, a space that lets people hang out online, that will lead to the Metaverse,” she writes.
Fashion, too, is pioneering the metaverse in search of new markets. “Consumers’ online identities are just as important as their physical-world selves,” writes Hackl. “They want their digital selves to look and dress in a way that matches their identify in the Metaverse.” Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and Balenciaga are among the brands that are experimenting to see if we’ll happily pay to dress our avatars in digital designer duds. Hackl herself is working on a jewelry brand called VerseLuxe which features an NFT chip is embedded in each piece, “making it a digital and physical tangible luxury.”
Of course, there are plenty of obstacles to the metaverse. Hackl calls out the need for hardware and software interoperability, which is hindered by the desire of companies to control access to the metaverse; the drive for scale that will determine if the metaverse becomes ubiquitous or remains a limited playground, like Second Life; and the need to resolve all the same security, privacy, and intellectual property issues that plague the digital world at large. The challenges are daunting, but that doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t be overcome.
"Into the Metaverse" isn’t likely to make the year’s best business book lists. It reads like a stack of blog posts, articles, and speeches cut-and-pasted together; it’s chock-full of hype; and its timing is unfortunate. But if the barriers between the physical and virtual worlds eventually disappear and companies create seamless experiences that span both worlds, Cathy Hackl may come to be known as the Prophet of the Metaverse, rather than its press agent.
The problem is it’s hard to make a compelling case for pursuing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity now that the initial excitement around the metaverse as the next big thing has given way to the next next big thing, ChatGPT. Hackl points to the big bet on the metaverse made in 2021 by the company formerly known as Facebook, but Mark Zuckerberg pared that back a few months ago. (Microsoft and several other major companies cut funding to their metaverse initiatives earlier this year, too.) Hackl also calls out the 2021 launch of Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF as a gauge of positive investor interest, but two years later, it is trading around 40 percent below its issue price.
Moreover, "Into the Metaverse" contains few examples of anyone making money in this new economy. Hackl offers up Beeple, a digital artist, who earned $70 million or so selling NFTs and rapper Travis Scott, who attracted 12 million people to a concert on the Fortnite gaming platform and grossed $20 million, but neither example entails the kind of money that is going to raise eyebrows in the C-suites of most large companies.
It also doesn’t help that Hackl, who named herself the world’s first Chief Metaverse Officer in 2020, tends to waffle. A few sentences after she urges readers to have “enough foresight and drive to get in on the ground floor of future” and become masters of the metaverse, she writes that the metaverse is “an idea more than a reality.”
Hackl gets on firmer ground when she describes how a host of enabling technologies — spatial computing; AI; blockchain and its virtual assets; user interfaces and graphics; virtual and augmented reality; and 5G and advanced networks — are converging to create an “intertwining of our physical and digital lives.” The result, she writes, will be a “seamless flow from what we see and interact with physically to a virtual environment.”
Hackl also does a good job of explaining why and how some industries are pioneering the metaverse. Online gaming with its legions of VR-googled players is one example. Companies like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft already have the kinds of platforms that will attract metaverse customers. “It’s the social side of games, a space that lets people hang out online, that will lead to the Metaverse,” she writes.
Fashion, too, is pioneering the metaverse in search of new markets. “Consumers’ online identities are just as important as their physical-world selves,” writes Hackl. “They want their digital selves to look and dress in a way that matches their identify in the Metaverse.” Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and Balenciaga are among the brands that are experimenting to see if we’ll happily pay to dress our avatars in digital designer duds. Hackl herself is working on a jewelry brand called VerseLuxe which features an NFT chip is embedded in each piece, “making it a digital and physical tangible luxury.”
Of course, there are plenty of obstacles to the metaverse. Hackl calls out the need for hardware and software interoperability, which is hindered by the desire of companies to control access to the metaverse; the drive for scale that will determine if the metaverse becomes ubiquitous or remains a limited playground, like Second Life; and the need to resolve all the same security, privacy, and intellectual property issues that plague the digital world at large. The challenges are daunting, but that doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t be overcome.
"Into the Metaverse" isn’t likely to make the year’s best business book lists. It reads like a stack of blog posts, articles, and speeches cut-and-pasted together; it’s chock-full of hype; and its timing is unfortunate. But if the barriers between the physical and virtual worlds eventually disappear and companies create seamless experiences that span both worlds, Cathy Hackl may come to be known as the Prophet of the Metaverse, rather than its press agent.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews