The trend of the Metaverse is a topic that’s been gaining popularity with every passing moment. The fully-realised digital world is now paving the way for the future of the internet. So what does this mean for freelancers? And what exactly do IT experts think about the Metaverse? At freelancermap, we ran a short survey among our freelance community to answer these questions and more. Take a look at the results down below!
- What is Metaverse?
- New opportunities and risks
- Learning new skills for the Metaverse
- Freelancers and the Metaverse
What is Metaverse?
Whether it’s e-commerce, the entertainment industry or the financial sector, the Metaverse is currently on everyone’s lips. Ever since Mark Zuckerberg renamed the former Facebook group Meta, and invested several billions in the virtual world, the term has arrived in the mainstream. The financial service Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the Metaverse business to be around 800 billion US dollars by 2024.
It’s no surprise then that big companies are using the virtual world to market and sell their products to a wider audience. For example, in 2021, Gucci partnered with Roblox – an online gaming platform – to invite users to explore the virtual Gucci Garden on its platform.
Other high-end fashion brands like Dolce and Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Nike etc have also started to invest heavily in the Metaverse by means of digital fashion shows, NFTs, and smart contracts.
New opportunities and risks for the labour market
As seen above, the Metaverse is a large market with plenty of opportunities awaiting those looking to expand their freelance business. It has the ability to offer freelancers new chances and possibilities.
After all, every seventh freelancer predicts that the Metaverse could be relevant for new professional perspectives in the future. A current survey by freelancermap with self-employed people from the tech industry shows these and other facts.
Creating a new digital world: Large tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia hope to appeal to a wide audience with a variety of possible uses. 30% of the freelancers surveyed also see new opportunities for product placement with regard to the Metaverse, as well as the opportunity for better global cooperation (39%) and the further development of Web 3.0 technologies (19%).
Dubai: A hub for the Metaverse and blockchain
Dubai’s recently launched Metaverse strategy positions it to be one of the biggest hubs for the Metaverse. Already home to over 1000 companies dealing with the Metaverse, Dubai’s new strategy hopes to become one of the top 10 cities in terms of Metaverse economy by increasing the number of companies dealing with the virtual world and supporting more than 40,000 virtual jobs.
According to the UAE government, the Dubai Metaverse strategy will be based on the following 3 pillars:
- To foster innovation and economic contribution
- To cultivate Metaverse talent through learning and training
- And finally, to develop applications and use-cases within the government itself
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Companies and Metaverse
With governments like Dubai expanding their reach into the virtual world, the question now remains: will companies adapt their processes and ways of working to include the Metaverse?
According to our survey, most freelancers (71%) seem to think so. 18% however, think that it’s too early to tell whereas 11% think that the Metaverse won’t be relevant.
⚠️ Metaverse is surely a hype right now but there’s still ambiguity regarding this term. Many companies, which actually have no ambitions in the direction of Metaverse, have publicly used this term and have carried out marketing.
Metaverse and possible risks
Freelancers who were surveyed don’t just identify positive prospects. They also have concerns about possible risks. Almost a third fear that the still relatively untapped market could be severely restricted by the monopoly position of the big players. In addition, 52% expect data security risks in the Metaverse. Another problem for some (20%) is the still poor legislation in virtual space. Here users could become victims of new scams.
Learning new skills for the Metaverse
With the constant hype about new digital platforms and business models, the question arises for many self-employed: Do I need new skills to be able to keep up on the job market? Is it worth it to learn them?
In the case of the Metaverse, almost 80% of the freelancers surveyed agree: Yes, it makes sense to acquire new skills now in order to be prepared for future topics. For the rest, on the other hand, the Metaverse has not yet had sufficient relevance for further training specifically for it.
Thomas Maas, CEO of freelancermap, finds the findings of this survey an exciting prospect. He says: “It is very interesting that 80% of the freelancers surveyed are willing to learn new skills to adapt to the Metaverse. After all, more than half are expecting new professional perspectives here. This forecast also reflects the growing accessibility to digital innovation in the international freelance landscape.”
Freelancers and the Metaverse
The Metaverse will play an important role in many areas and industries. For example, it will help improve virtual meetings or perhaps a user’s shopping experience in e-commerce. Possibly, freelancers will be involved in this “revolution” too.
In the 90s and with the beginning of the internet era, we didn’t even imagine that it would be possible to gain money by photographing food and uploading pictures to Instagram. It’s possible then that we’ll experience the same with the Metaverse. We don’t know what kind of new opportunities there’ll be. However, being open-minded towards the virtual world and working conditions can open up new opportunities for the self-employed.
But how can freelancers benefit from the Metaverse?
Now that you’ve gotten an inkling about what the Metaverse is and what it can mean for freelancers, you may be wondering if it’s something you can potentially dip your toes in. If that is the case, then congratulations, you’re way ahead of your competition already! As a freelancer, you can lend your services as a developer, writer, designer, artist (or whatever field you’re in) in the Metaverse.
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Examples of project opportunities related to the Metaverse:
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