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Metaverse? Meta Who? Met-a-confused?

Meta/Facebook posted some very impressive numbers last week during their quarterly earnings call.

This quarter: +13%.
Year to date: +98%.
Now, it’s looking like Facebook is for “The Olds.”
Now, it’s looking like their big bet on the Metaverse (including changing their name to Meta) is evolving (to be kind).

It has left many people wondering: What, exactly, is the Metaverse?

I delved deep into this conversation on a recent episode of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast, with Cathy Hackl (author of, Into the Metaverse, and a self-described Chief Metaverse Officer).
But now, Business Insider has published a formal obituary for the Metaverse: RIP Metaverse.

Here’s what I think: The Metaverse has an identity crisis.

Is it online gaming like Roblox and Minecraft?
Is it virtual real estate?
Is it Web3, NFTs and blockchain?
Is it virtual reality goggles and headsets?
Apple is rumored to be coming out this summer with their own headset.
Is it virtual reality?
Is it augmented reality?
Is it just the future of how we access content and information after the mobile internet?

Is it all of things… making it none of those things?

If the Metaverse is real, does it already have a killer app?
For me, it has to be more than a future state of technology and much more than a current philosophy.

What does the Metaverse mean to you?

What is Tech Tuesday?

Every Tuesday – for just a few minutes – I join Heather Backman (my old buddy from her days on CHOM FM and Jack 103) on the air at 95.9 Star FM to give a quick blast about the current state of technology, media and Internet culture.
We call it Tech Tuesday (and we do it in just a few minutes).

Once the segment goes live on 95.9 Star FM, I will post it here for you to listen in, learn, share and engage.

Mitch Joel · Metaverse? Meta Who? Met-a-confused?

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Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.