The use of digital avatars in a variety of ways is a key component of Meta’s metaverse initiative.
Meta also hopes to enable non-VR customers to interact in the same way, with the characters they choose to represent themselves, becoming a more impressive extension of their identity and presence.
Recently, Meta is promoting the idea of digital avatars on Instagram Stories.
Some users will now see a new message to use either ‘Emoji’ or ‘Avatar’ reactions to Stories, as shown in the example.
If you select the Avatar option, you will be guided to develop your personalized avatar character.
Additionally, you will be able to use new unique stickers surrounded around your character’s avatar, much like the concept brought about on Facebook.
Director and Head of Partnerships of Meta India, Manish Chopra stated:
Representations in the metaverse should reflect the diversity of the real world. Digital Avatars are just the first step toward enabling everyone to express themselves in their unique ways,”
He further went on to say “when you create your avatar you can choose the right facial features, body types, clothing styles, and more to create your virtual self”.
What value do Digital Avatars add?
Well, this is yet an additional method to increase the number of users to create personalized characters, which is part of Meta’s greater movement to make this a more widely accepted, habitual engagement technique.
This has already been seen on the platform Snapchat, for example, they already have a variety of sponsored gadgets available for Bitmoji’s – such as trendy outfits from Nike.
This depicts that as avatar usage grows, there will be a greater demand for distinct customizations and accessories, which platforms will be able to charge for.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Meta, believes that the metaverse (which is in essence a much more immersive and thrilling version of the internet as we currently know) will be a huge successful as a form of connection and self-expression.
It is said that he seeks to aim to spend $10 billion, building on this virtual world in the next coming years.
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