個案資料

If successful with its metaverse plans, Meta will dramatically expand its revenue streams by taking a cut of an explosion in sales of new digital goods, services, and software while significantly increasing its ability to study and influence consumers and sell their changed behaviours to advertisers. The latter is the focus of this article because Mark Zuckerberg’s idea of a brave new world is being built by the same people who helped create some of today’s major social problems. Whatever consumers choose to do in the real world and on social media, they can reimagine and do in the world of the metaverse—work, play, shop, date, exercise, bet, trade, learn, influence, travel, create, communicate, follow. While there is potential to improve remote work, the social costs of a virtual wild west could outweigh the benefits. Society stands the risk of being fed a steady, addictive, and customized mix of manipulated content by forces seeking to monetize the three elements that it takes to brainwash people–perceptions of identity, belonging, and injustice. The initial marketing focus will be on attracting users and getting them to spend a lot of time in Horizon Worlds. But the focus will shift to value extraction. This will likely be done by systematically and simultaneously working on users’ perceptions and behaviours while changing context continually. This evolution of marketing would break new and dangerous ground in oppositional marketing. While regulatory oversight of metaverse development is warranted, it isn’t guaranteed to happen or, if attempted, succeed at mitigating the risks.

• Oppositional Marketing, Metaverse, Mark Zuckerberg, Internet 3.0