Facing the challenges of metaverse: a systematic literature review from Social Sciences and Marketing and Communication

Abstract

The metaverse is the conjunction and optimization of the possibilities of the Internet and technology at their best. It is a consequence of the development and evolution of digital society. Technological innovation, fundamentally oriented toward virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed realities, contributes significantly to the creation of a solid foundation on which to build an entire universe of virtual worlds. This is a universe that, in turn, requires the creation of backbone content for narratives that attract and retain users by capturing their attention to promote a specific ecosystem that transfers the activities of the real world to a virtual one, either projected or recreated. This research is based on a systematic review of 402 articles and a qualitative analysis of 125 publications. It examines the trends in technology, application, and methodology pertaining to the metaverse in the social sciences field, namely marketing and communication and neuroscience, areas that contribute to the understanding of the social dimension of the metaverse phenomenon. Although there is abundant academic literature on the metaverse in computer science, this is not the case in the aforementioned disciplines. Given that the metaverse is destined to become the next Internet revolution, there is a race among countries and brands to position themselves within it, which is expected to intensify in the coming years. The metaverse can contribute to a wide variety of applications of a social nature, which is why it is a highly competitive tool for nations, companies, and academia, as well as the public and private media. The results indicate a technological transformation proposing a future that includes neuro-technologies based on brain–computer interfaces and the metaverse as the setting. This will occur alongside the solidification of the virtual ecosystem thanks to the emergence of digital natives and Gen Z, as well as the convergence of many different technologies and immersive and participatory content, in which the consumer is the provider, owner, and beneficiary.