For some specialists, the metaverse represents a real business opportunity and an undeniable marketing asset for engaging audiences through new and increasingly innovative technological practices. But what are the best practices to adopt in the light of social and environmental challenges? Clarisse Popower, an expert in responsible digital marketing, takes a closer look.
Le metavers refers to an immersive 3D Internet that is permanent and accessible in real time. The idea, advocated and explained at the end of October 2021 by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook (renamed Meta), is to go further into this universe to develop ever more fruitful commercial opportunities.
With the metaverse, the platforms will be similar to those that exist today, and will be enhanced by virtual and augmented reality. This universe promises increasingly immersive user experiences, with more graphic, more realistic content, helping to strengthen virtual communities. These communities can become very powerful.
Hence the growing appeal of these universes for brands to develop their visibility:
- By creating virtual spaces offering new user experiences
- Using metaverse data to track consumer behaviour and reach a wider, unlimited audience
- Strengthening virtual communities through social media by offering infinite personalised content
The hidden face of the metaverse: environmental issues
However, the subject of metavers is controversial. On the one hand, it is revolutionising communication. It promises ever more effective marketing strategies thanks to stronger communities and access to a phenomenal volume of data. On the other hand, it raises a number of questions about its impact. environmental, social and ethical impacts.
Mark Zuckerberg's announcement has provoked a number of economic players to consider the potential benefits to be gained, without taking the necessary distance from the impact of these nanotechnologies. Inès Leonarduzzi, founder of Digital for the Planet, explains that metavers is a cutting-edge field and cannot be applied to everyday uses. "It's like offering users mini Paris-Marseille flights with a stopover on the moon, just for the experience. It's like Formula 1 for picking up your children from school.
The deployment of metavers in environmental terms requires significant energy expenditure. This can only increase the stress on water and abiotic resources caused by the proliferation of electronic devices. With these new technologies, all existing equipment is becoming obsolete. They have to be replaced by more powerful devices (computers/smartphones) to support the flow of data.
Added to this is the purchase of a new type of equipment: virtual reality headsets, gloves and suits to feel the interactions. According to the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) and the French Communications Regulatory Authority (ARCEP), equipment generates 65 to 92 % of the environmental impact of digital technology. An ecological disaster, at a time when the urgency of climate change is the subject of much debate.
Societal challenges
According to Gartner, 25 % of people will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse in 2026. And yet the ethical rules to be applied within the metaverse have not yet been defined.
Indeed, the greatest societal challenge is undoubtedly the state of human rights in this fictional world. Once in the metaverse, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides a global framework for the existence and treatment of people (prohibiting human exploitation, for example), will no longer have any impact. In other words, once in the virtual world, it is the company that decrees the law and the rules it wishes to apply. As a result, every move the user makes is under the digital control of the companies that make up the metaverse.
The legal framework for this virtual space is therefore under discussion. Many questions remain unanswered, for example: if there were no national borders in the metaverse, what rules would apply? What laws on consumer product safety, privacy, labour standards and contracts would prevail? Where should illegal behaviour be judged?
Beyond the undefined ethical rules in this universe, the metaverse has a good number of biases to take into account:
- increased risk of exclusion and digital divide
- the collection, management and sharing of personal data
- digital identity
- handling
- hyperconnection
- long-term addiction and isolation
Practices to adopt
There are many dangers associated with the metaverse for which the organisations involved do not yet have any answers. For the moment, the metaverse is more a projection of future economic activity than a reality. Before embarking on metavers, it is therefore essential to :
- Learn about the social, environmental and ethical issues involved
- Reflect on the impact of metavers in the strategy of corporate social responsibility (CSR), taking care to avoid 'rebound effects'. For example, an organisation might consider capitalising on metaverse technologies to address environmental issues. In this case, the rebound effect represents the energy savings cancelled out by its use. According to the British economist William Stanley Jevons, creator of this concept: "the more technological improvements increase the efficiency with which a resource is used, the more the total consumption of that resource will tend to increase, rather than decrease".
- Consider environmental and social issues as marketing opportunities of this parallel universe and follow the 3 U rule by asking the right questions. For example:
- Will my virtual space be useful to my target audience? Will I really benefit from the amount of data collected? useful ? Will my universe be usable by my stakeholders without additional equipment?
- Will my virtual space be used by my stakeholders?
In a world dominated by technology, the metaverse is shaking up businesses and raising far-reaching questions. This parallel universe represents a major environmental, ethical and societal challenge. It is therefore essential to approach the subject with commitment and a certain amount of distance to limit the negative impact of this virtual world in your marketing strategies.
