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Thread: As we spend more time in virtual worlds, the way we socialize will also evolveWe'll see:
- new forms of social engagement
- new types of friendships
- more spontaneity
- enabled by new content models
We break it down here! https://bit.ly/2VZ2sdC
1/ In the Metaverse - with worlds at our fingertips, socializing will shift from the purposeful "what" to the people-centric "who"
From
-> 
From
->
2/ Today the majority of digital entertainment, from TV to music to games, is made by professionals and is largely single-player, i.e. your @netflix show doesn't change when you watch it with friends 
3/ Games have done the most in multiplayer entertainment, millions use @Fortnitegame @Warcraft as social hangouts. Yet even these worlds are constrained by the supply of content a professional studio can create 
4/ To build the Metaverse, our content production model first needs to evolve. And as we adopt new ways of creating content, we also unlock new social experiences
5/ We've seen user-generated content explode on platforms like @Youtube @TikTok_us
UGC can cost-effectively scale content production. Youtube creators upload 500+ hours of video every min - a feat not possible with professionally produced video [source: http://blog.youtube/press ]
UGC can cost-effectively scale content production. Youtube creators upload 500+ hours of video every min - a feat not possible with professionally produced video [source: http://blog.youtube/press ]
6/ Yet UGC has its own challenges:
- raising the quality bar can be challenging
- only a small # of people have the skills to be a creator today. Ex. Unity only has 1.5M monthly creators, a fraction of the 2.5B+ gamer population [source: Unity S-1]
- raising the quality bar can be challenging
- only a small # of people have the skills to be a creator today. Ex. Unity only has 1.5M monthly creators, a fraction of the 2.5B+ gamer population [source: Unity S-1]
7/ AI-assisted human creation will be the next major evolution of content creation. Everyone can be a creator with the help of AI tools that translate instructions into assets, doing the heavy lifting of coding, writing, composing, etc
8/ Early glimpses here are intriguing. @LifeScoreMusic is an AI maestro that dynamically composes music on the fly. @rctstudio is creating an engine that uses deep learning to render text into animated 3D objects
Demo of "there is a man walking"
Demo
of "there is a man walking"
9/ As AI takes on a greater role in content creation, both the quantity and quality of UGC will improve. Eventually our virtual worlds will reach Metaverse-level scale 
10/ I believe the Metaverse will be "YouTube for social experiences" - a place where users can meet and discover new experiences spontaneously. Just as you don't plan your agenda on YouTube or Tiktok, so the Metaverse will encourage spontaneous exploration
11/ New social experiences will emerge that are both spontaneous and interactive - @Facebook @Genvidtech recently revealed @RivalPeak - a reality TV show featuring AI-powered virtual contestants where the audience votes to determine their actions in real-time
12/ Our friends themselves will evolve in the Metaverse as well
With advances in natural language processing and cloud-connected data, AI friendships become a real possibility in a world where folks feel increasingly lonely
With advances in natural language processing and cloud-connected data, AI friendships become a real possibility in a world where folks feel increasingly lonely
13/ Sound farfetched? @ReplikaAI has already created an emotionally intelligent AI bot that 7M+ people engage with today. @pandorabots is live in several commercial apps. @studio_fable is building Lucy, an animated AI character you can video chat with on Zoom
Wrap/ In the same way the digital social experiences of today have become first-nature, so too, will new forms of engagement and friendships in the Metaverse
For more thoughts on the future of social, check out the rest of our social strikes back series! https://a16z.com/social-strikes-back
For more thoughts on the future of social, check out the rest of our social strikes back series! https://a16z.com/social-strikes-back
