A key element of the Metavers push in Meta is to make more use of digital avatars, as it seeks to turn these virtual presentations into more habitual interaction tools, from all angles.
The main platform in this regard is VR, users communicate through their cartoonish proxies in a completely submerged space. But Meta also wants to enable non-VR users to engage in a similar way, with the characters they choose to represent becoming a more significant extension of their personality and presence.
To do this, Meta needs to make its avatars more attractive and more customized, which it is already doing with the implementation of 3D avatars in stickers on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram.
And now that Meta is taking the next step, some users are now watching Avatar Response as an Alternative in Instagram Stories.
As you can see in this example, shared by user Purraj Dutt, Some users are now seeing a new prompt to use ’emoji’ or ‘avatar’ responses in stories. Tap the ‘Avatar’ option and you’ll be prompted to create your custom avatar character (if you haven’t already) before you are presented with a range of custom sticker responses using your character.
This is another way to create custom characters for more users, which, in turn, is part of the greater pressure on Meta to turn it into a more general, habitual engagement behavior. The The way you present yourself online.
Which will then have a range of expanded applications.
Interacting with the virtual world – or metavers – is a major push, but the widespread implementation of custom digital characters will give Meta new opportunities to sell virtual items within its evolving spaces.
For example, Snapchat already has a range of corporate-sponsored items for Bitmoji avatar characters, which enables users to customize their avatars. Adidas, Nike And other well-known brands.
There’s no cost right now to embellish your character in this digital costume variety, but expanding as a result of using avatars will increase the demand for exclusive items and customizations, for which platforms will be able to charge, see more unique, more elusive variations Can give a level of status within the state.
This is happening in pre-existing metavers-type spaces, enabling limited edition skin users on Fortnite and Roblox to showcase their experience and skills through acquired or purchased avatar costumes and additions.
In fact, a virtual Gucci bag Roblox sold $ 4,000 last yearAnd it is this next-level push that platforms and brands are looking at as a major opportunity, enabling them to not only promote real-world items through digital imagery, but also create a whole new market for fully digital products.
This may seem like a strange idea to many. Why would people pay for a bag that can only be displayed in a digital world – even if you can’t open it or put anything in it?
That may be true, but we’ve already witnessed an emerging market for such items, the rise of NFT, which has recently declined somewhat, but serves as the starting point for the next phase of digital commerce, where people will pay. Owning something that is not physical, but can be connected to their online personality.
Most NFT projects, however, are useless. In contrast to giving artists a new opportunity to make money from their work, the NFT market has been rapidly flooded by scammers, and every fraud and controversy has further eroded confidence in the place, which has turned many ‘investors’. ‘Away.
I say ‘investors’ because many NFT enthusiasts feel like themselves – all of a sudden every tech bro and Gary V. Acolyte has become an industry critic who sees the future value of this unique work, which they believe will appreciate over time.
But they won’t. The real value of NFT, as an idea, lies in the convenience of purchasing virtual items that can then be linked to your identity, ideally, the ability to take your virtual items with you across VR territories and locations – such as RoboLux in a work meeting by zooming in on your wear. The skin of the character.
In this sense, NFTs have value as a framework for purchasing usable, displayable virtual items. Random profile pictures of monkeys don’t have that value – and Gary Weir’s hand-painted pictures certainly won’t have a unique interest outside of his fan base.
Altogether, current NFT collectors are right on one point – that they are entering the ground floor very quickly, a trend that will become more significant over time. The problem is that the ‘investment’ they are making now will not hold any real value in the next phase – which is why every NFT project is now trying to add value through community benefits and access, which will not be much value in the future.
NFTs as a framework for purchasing virtual clothing, however, now have the potential and it may well be that owning a virtual Gucci bag that can be linked to your identity as these avatars expand into the real, valuable and acceptable virtual world.
But people will not go to the virtual art gallery and will not bid for the first edition of Board Apps. Indeed, perhaps board apps may retain some value as a sign of the times, while the work of the bipartisans, for example, also has a cultural value that may retain some of their significance. But most profile picture NFT projects will be a fad, a marker of the next stage, but not in themselves, a valuable work of art for the next generation.
But no one wants to miss the boat. Many investors initially fired Facebook, and missed out on similar purchases with Twitter and other significant technological changes. That’s why people jump into the NFT, hoping to get to the next level – and in this sense they’re actually early, they can probably get in very early.
But the next level is coming, and digital products will be one thing. Meta is looking for more ways to make this change. And finally, that will work, one way or another.
