Introduction

Future of Internet – At the turn of the 2020’s we were introduced to a new world of virtual possibilities after having suffered a global pandemic. Across the world, millions of businesses and small-scale entrepreneurs were forced to digitalize their operations or face insolvency.

Now that the pandemic is over, many companies realized the potential of keeping their business in the momentum and running everything online.

How will this play out in the near future?

Hypothetical Vision of the Metaverse

An interesting element of the metaverse will be the different possibilities of making money through the platform. While companies like Microsoft deals with office culture and work environment, Decentraland, Meta and Nvidia will focus more in entertainment, lifestyle and daily life.

It is possible that the future of the metaverse will integrate a virtual reality where people will be able to continue their work and daily life ina  virtual world or with a virtual character of their choosing. Web 3.0 is the bases of this integration for the metaverse, unreal engine 5, VR and cryptocurrency.

The metaverse could be the first step towards changing the way the service based economy will change and the way people and companies make money through the internet.

Expansion of Search Engines

Digital marketing has been an old and mainstream topic for years now. Search engines like Google have become the powerhouse of world knowledge with around 3.5 billion unique visitors per month in 2021. While companies Alphabet are slowly monopolizing the world wide web, other search engines like Yahoo, Yandex and Bing had their fair share of growth and customization for improved user experience.

In fact Yahoo had been on steady decline for years, but the post covid period had risen its user base to 700 million users per month. Is that only because of global lockdown? Not entirely.

Search engine algorithms turn to favour mobiles more and more than simply concentrating on the average desktop user. Mobile phone users have risen steady across the decade and continue to do so. The future of the internet will become mobile friendly first.

The Influence of the Gaming Industry

It may have seemed strange a few years ago, but MMORPGs, VR and single player gaming technologies are taking a huge role in modern technology. In both B2B SaaS and B2C driven companies, the complexities of old-school work and product development are becoming something of a playground. Companies, especially SME’s and tech startups are taking a more informal approach towards product development by integrating more playful UX.

This is the case with Metaverse platforms like Decentraland or The Sandbox. People can literally make money through playing and integrating with other avatars, running their businesses as if they were in a real world system. (Of course with many limitations since the metaverse is at its early stage of development.)

Digital Purchase Power

Online advetising, dropshipping and eCommerce have taken over the world in the past 2 decades. However with the rise of real estate and rental, office space and storage prices have gone beyond the roof, especially in cities. With remote work here to stay, people are more keen on shopping online rather than taking their cars out for a long ride from the comfort of their home or the busy vibe of their office.

Final Remarks

The Future of Internet is exciting and seems limitless when it comes to turning ideas into reality. The true boundary of our imagination within the virtual world will be established by project funding and data acquisition. The metaverse will play a big role in the upcoming years along as well as the technologies introduced by online gaming industries.