By Julian Acevedo

The months of confinement due to the pandemic and the measures taken by all governments to counteract the effects of the coronavirus made technology more relevant at every moment in our lives. In other words, we have become even more dependent on it.

The first evidence of this was manifested in interpersonal communications. For example, video calling applications have allowed us to be closer to our loved ones and saved many jobs. In the workplace, models such as the "home office" were implemented (or strengthened), which gave an interesting twist on the way in which we manage our relationships in work environments, with colleagues and our bosses.

But virtuality is not new. The Second Life community, for example, was for some years a benchmark for this trend, where through the creation of avatars, real users became "residents" of a virtual world and maintained an alternative life on the Internet.

Now comes the Metaverse, which has become fashionable thanks to Mark Zuckerberg. To define it simply, it is a space on the web where we can use an avatar and carry out activities that are everyday in the real world, such as working, shopping, building relationships, contracting services, playing... In short, we will move or we will replicate various relevant aspects of our online life there.

All this entails a change in the way we communicate as individuals and as companies, brands and organizations. Because the Metaverse is also a space for companies to interact with consumers and target audiences, taking advantage of the host of opportunities that will represent the new behaviors of people in this new reality is a must.

The scope of this parallel universe in terms of communications is such that even Reuters, one of the most prestigious news agencies on the planet, is creating information channels for audiences within the Metaverse. The media could even "create" special virtual envoys that report the most relevant events of the digital world.

The possibilities are endless. However, companies must consider that in the Metaverse, individuals will behave in a much more immersive way. This means that their communication strategies will have to be completely different from those applied in the offline world, because the objective will no longer be just to convince, promote an operation for the acquisition of goods and services, and generate empathy (top of heart and top of mind), but must involve people. The experiences should not only be unforgettable, but also 100% binding and interactive.

There are still a lot of unconnected dots when it comes to communication in the Metaverse (many of them ethical and moral), which is not to say that we should passively wait for things to happen and then join the flow. This universe is still unexplored and demands pioneers who really define behaviors and set the trends.

For brands, the time is now.

Also, view in Spanish.