Rebekah Keida, Metaverse Expert & Director at XBTO, discusses why Millennials are gravitating toward metaverse events over other generations and what businesses need to look out for when offering services in the metaverse. 

Opening Bell

New Survey Shows Millennials Most Interested in Metaverse

here to talk more about this Rebecca Qaeda metaverse expert and director at XB T. Oh so good to have you on the show on this metaverse monday. How has interest in the metaverse changed since the beginning of even just this year? And why do you think it is that we're seeing Millennials are more interested in this space than other generations? Yeah. Hi asia, thanks for having me. So it's really interesting with the metaverse in particular if you actually look at google trends, which is um just a record of kind of search data that people are searching on google, there's a flat line last year and then a crazy spike where it peaks up when when facebook actually decided to change its name to meta. But really the question is why are millennials and gen Z interested? And if you go back to the gaming industry which really the metaverse is just a shared simulated experience, you can see that gen Z and millennials have grown up on games, um the playstation console and Xbox were actually really uh just very important in getting people to understand what it's like to be in an immersive world and that's just kind of expanded where we demand these experiences now. So I think that that is actually the genesis for the interest in in metaverse right now and those age demographics, I do want to speak with you about meta because we're hearing news today meta opening a physical store to sell VR headsets and other accessories enough? Do you think to fuel the adoption of metaverse among individuals during that? This time? we should also mention these are on the tech giants campus, not necessarily in, you know, huge malls, Do you think that this initiative will be enough to kind of stoke up some interest for those maybe in the survey that I have mentioned, they haven't heard about the metaverse. Absolutely. I so I've been interested in VR since 2014. And really what got me was seeing virtual reality in motion or inaction rather for the first time and there's just nothing like the feeling that sense of presence. It's a phenomenon that's specifically unique to virtual reality, where you really can only experience if you're in a high quality headsets, So having a store location, even if it's on, you know, even if it's on one of their campuses is going to be so important for people to understand the breadth of what's possible and what they can do. And you know, a great example is in new york. There's an outfit called VR World, so if you happen to be in new york city and VR World is still open checking that out is a great example to see an array of what's possible in virtual reality. Yeah, I was just at a mall this weekend and saw an entire space dedicated to virtual reality as well. So I think we're seeing more frequency of these businesses popping up, but what do you target as kind of the main challenges that they're facing when positioning themselves to sell goods or services related to the metaverse? Absolutely, I mean, companies ask me all the time, like we want to get into the metaverse, what do we need to do to get there? And the first question that I asked them is why would anyone go to your metaverse? Because a metaverse is really only as important or as impactful as the people inside, it's like social media, if your friends aren't on instagram, you're probably not going to be there. And it's the same with the metaverse, there needs to be a reason either valuable information or you know, desirable commerce activities, otherwise people aren't gonna be interested, they need to be able to learn something, they need to be able to talk to their friends or they need to be able to buy something otherwise I think interest will will wane completely. You mentioned a lot of the interest from millennials hinging on the fact that a lot of us have grown up on gaming and social media, what are the industries that you're seeing the most growth for within the metaverse so far. Absolutely. Well, early surveys and studies have shown that folks are most interested in music performances in sports, which really isn't a surprise, I'd say all of those elements are very enhanced in a virtual space because you can see it, you can see it in much more depth and maybe you don't need to be there. So really the metaverse kind of breaks down the boundaries of space and time. Um and even cost. So it really the virtual reality in my mind and the metaverse kind of democratized access to experiences. But I think another unique industry that that could benefit from this would be fashion because you know right now we we shop on e commerce and you know, I'm not sure if you share the same experience asia, but when I just click on links and I'm trying to zoom in and see something, I'm not really getting a good idea of what it's like and if that can be brought into the metaverse and I could see it on my body or on my face, I think I'd or even invite friends and family members to come and see my shopping experience, I'd probably leave, I wouldn't abandon my shopping cart as frequently. Oh, 100%. I feel you on that the fashion space just has so much promise within the metaverse, but at the same time, I do think there are so many players of this game, so we would need to see some sort of adjustment or mainstream regulations or I think templates across the board in order for there to be adoption. Um but I do want to ask you where you think businesses and individuals should be paying close attention to this space at this point in the game. Yeah, so I'd say again, I kind of go back to the metaverse is really the next generation of the website, so what they should be thinking about is can they provide more value for their fan base, their community, their customers, whatever they want to call it, by using a shared simulated experience? Doesn't make it more social. Can you show more detail of whatever it is that you're selling or that you're teaching people? And if you can that it is definitely worth exploring either a partnership in an existing metaverse or perhaps building your own experience. Like when I go back to the website, example, um you know, the World Wide Web doesn't doesn't isn't based off of a single website and that's how I consider each metaverse. So there is, you know, the argument in my mind and the thesis that I'm sticking to is that there are going to be so many metaverse, is there really gonna be meta worlds? And there's going to be metaverse is going to be the kind of World wide Web, but it's just semantics at that point. And so really, really it's focusing on who are your, you know, your current fan based customers community. And then if, can you provide value um in a, in a way of the metaverse, Right? So those are kind of the early questions that I that I asked folks And Rebecca just about a minute left with you, but I feel like I have to ask because we hear across the board just so many different estimates of when we think the metaverse could hit its stride anywhere between a few years to 10 years. What is kind of your thesis? I think it's already here, right? So anyone who's a gamer and there are over 3.2 billion gamers globally which is a large you know a fraction of the global population and they're 70% of all U. S. Adults are gamers. Uh So metaverse is already existing games so it's already here. It just depends how people want to go about it. I think you know having a metaverse that can hold four billion people at once that's gonna be further down the line. But I think in the immediate sense having smaller metaverse is right or just metta world or meta experiences um is here today and you'll see them rolled out over the next couple of months. Certainly. All right, Rebecca caida metaverse expert and director at X. P. T. Oh so good to have you on the show.