When Neal Stephenson wrote "Snow Crash" in 1992 we thought it was a science fiction book about the world of the far future. We saw the "metaverse," one of the most important concepts of the technology world, for the first time through his writing and started to think about what our world would be like in the future. Then the "Matrix" series entered our lives and maybe we were very excited for our grandchildren. In the meantime, of course, revolutions were taking place in the world of technology.

The revolutions experienced with Web 1.0 and then Web 2.0 started to change the era we live in. These changes have fundamentally changed communications, the economy, the marketing world and our daily lives.

In order to understand these changes, as the academic literature on the subject began to emerge, companies developed strategies related to new media. In the marketing world, on the other hand, bigger changes took place. New concepts began to be effective in all areas of our lives.

However, we knew that there would be technological revolutions in the future, as we knew that change and transformation do not have an end. So, thinking of the future of virtual reality, metaverse and Web 3.0, and we slowly found ourselves in this world.

The metaverse, in its simplest definition, is the virtual world. The metaverse is a virtual universe where we can connect with the internet. A virtual reality universe where we can work, socialize, play games and do many more activities. Another concept is Web 3.0, the revolution to be experienced on the internet after Web 2.0.

Web 3.0 – an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web based on blockchain technology that will enable a decentralized connection without any tools – will provide an infrastructure for the metaverse. Today, when we are writing about our future, important steps are being taken regarding this issue in Turkey. One of them is ME – a metaverse-oriented creative technology agency – the first metaverse agency established in the world.

We met with Can Yurdakul, the founder of ME, who participated as a speaker at the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation's (TRT) "World Forum NEXT" event held by TRT World in the past weeks, to talk about the metaverse and Web 3.0.

Founded in November 2021, the agency has now moved all of its office processes to the metaverse. Now, meetings and events take place in the metaverse. Another feature that distinguishes the agency from other agencies in the world is that it has its own blockchain-based and design-centered infrastructure. We talked with Yurdakul about these concepts that have come into our lives, developments and what might await us in the future.

Science-fiction reality

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a press release at the end of last October, said that the name of the Facebook umbrella company was changed to "Meta" because the direction of the company in the future will be the metaverse.

With this statement, social media, in particular, became very active. After this development, which created excitement in both technology companies and users, the concept of the "metaverse" has now become one of the topics we talk about the most.

Yurdakul stated that the concept of the metaverse did not enter our lives all of a sudden but that the interest has increased all over the world in recent years.

"There was a fictional reality we call science fiction and a world that Hollywood told us. (After) 'Snow Crash,' we were saying (that the future) is coming. Then the 'Matrix' came, we said it will come. Then we watched a movie called 'Ready Player One' and we said it came. In 2021, the use of the word the metaverse on Twitter has increased by 10,000%, which is a huge number."

New tools in life

When these concepts started to be used more in our daily lives, question marks began to appear. In particular, questions such as what the metaverse and Web 3.0 are, where they will be located in our lives, and what awaits us in the future have begun to be asked.

Yurdakul said that the Web 3.0 revolution that will take place will include everyone and that there will be no one left who will not be affected by it. "The promises of Web 3.0 are very important. There is, of course, a gap between the promise and the fulfillment," Yurdakul said.

"For the last three years, this concept has been talked about in the world. I think metaverse has become a very populist concept. What is metaverse and what is not metaverse is actually a bit confusing. That's why we call it Web 3.0," he noted.

"Web 3.0 is actually the technical terminology of this business. And besides, many new terms are joining our lives."

Each period also reveals its own concepts. It is necessary to learn the emerging concepts and add them to our lives correctly. Saying that "learning" is a key word of Web 3.0, Yurdakul added the following: "I think the word learning is one of the keywords for Web 3.0, as we will all learn every day, we will progress by building on what we know every day, and actually if you look at it, this is learning. There is no end to the process."

Talking about these tools that we have started to use frequently with the metaverse and that will perhaps become indispensable in our daily lives in the future, Yurdakul conveys what awaits us in the metaverse universe as follows.

As a person who is on the business and creative side of the affairs, I am talking about blockchain, I'm talking about technology (that involves) Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) here. I am talking about the gamification that will come into our lives later on and those areas of experience."

Metaverse economics

The metaverse will not only change our daily life and internet usage tools, but we can say that big changes await us in the economy. With the changes to be experienced in the world of marketing and advertising, new business lines will emerge.

Yurdakul pointed out that behavioral sciences will be effective in this field and said that sociologists and anthropologists will also take on active roles. Along with these, the marketing strategy of the companies will also become suitable for the metaverse and Web 3.0.

Yurdakul explained how the advertising industry will change. "Advertising in the past was to change the buying habits in people's minds, that equation somehow and direct them to brands and consumers. However, now I have to keep up with this revolution with Web 3.0," he said. "(So,) it will no longer be the advertising you are used to. That's why, to design this 3D world, I have to design new experiences by taking inspiration from the experiences of people in the real world. We are in this world of endless possibilities."

Yurdakul noted that they also benefited from areas that were seen as luxury consumption in the advertising sector in their own agencies. "In this world, while writing those experiences and writing those strategies, we need to melt both real people and metahumans in one pot. In order to do this, we need sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists. We need behavioral scientists."

Turkey and the metaverse

The metaverse created a stir in Turkey's agenda as well. While consumers were excited about these new technological developments, they quickly adapted to tools such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and bitcoin, which we saw as the steps of this technology, and started to use them in their daily life. The fact that the consumer was so curious and eager also created excitement on the producer's side of affairs.

"We, as Turkish people, are pioneers in the world in terms of consuming technology. We are in the top three in the world in the use and trade of cryptocurrencies. Or, we are in the top three in the world in buying and selling land."

Yurdakul added that taking such fast action can cause some mistakes.

"Yes, there have been a lot of people that have made mistakes in this regard. Because some actions were taken without understanding or knowing. These were relayed to us as if they were an investment opportunity. But I think that someone who does not have enough knowledge about Web 3.0 should not see Web 3.0 as an investment purpose. The new economic model created here, the economic revolution, needs to be understood very well. In order to understand this, very good literature needs to be created."

Turkey's geopolitical position

Turkey, which has adapted very quickly to the metaverse world, has already started working in this field. Yurdakul explained how important Turkey is in terms of the metaverse and Web 3.0, which has taken a leading position in studies.

"Turkey is in a very unique geopolitical position when it comes to Web 3.0. Because, I think, we, as people living in a country and geography that is so culturally rich, actually see what is right and what is wrong. We can see it better than anyone else. We are actually a very dynamic human community that benefits from all regions of this geography. Therefore, we can move this geopolitical position of Turkey to Web 3.0. Here we can create the pioneer mind together.''

Our Future World

While we are still confused about the metaverse, there is one thing we are sure about: The metaverse and Web 3.0 are coming with the change. And this incoming change will transform many areas, not just one. It is obvious that there will be great changes in our daily lives with the changes in new business lines, marketing and the advertising sector.

How will these changes affect our daily lives? It is obvious that technology has positive aspects as well as negative that it adds to our lives. When asked if a "Black Mirror" episode might be waiting for us in the future, Yurdakul replied: "We can build Web 3.0 for good, that is, this third dimension is a way of approaching real life, we have a chance to reflect our human characteristics in a more realistic way.

"That's why we (need to figure out what we) want to carry from this world to the metaverse, what we don't want, or how much we want to bring the metaverse into our lives. In fact, with the philosophy of this decentralization, we want to leave the decision-making to the consumer, the user rather than the institution, or the company, or whoever acts as the decision-maker. Of course, this change will come to a point of no return."

We don't know what the changes will bring us, but we do know that the metaverse and Web 3.0 excite us.

Online meetings, gatherings and the rapid introduction of technology into our lives with the global COVID-19 pandemic have caused the concepts of the metaverse and Web 3.0 to enter our lives, perhaps much earlier than expected. But what exactly awaits us?

The answer to this question lies only in the future. We'll wait and see.