It is a little known fact that social media and all its former content may be very important to some features of the metaverse. Your profile will and should be visible to all so that when you meet in these completely immersive virtual social environments you have credibility or an ID. Bad actors, therefore cannot even exist because they would have been “vetted” by social media.
Is social media one big test for bigger things such as the metaverse in online communication?
Some users are not savvy in online communication. Look at Sulers online disinhibition effect. Behind the screens anyone has the balls to say anything. However, in the metaverse all arrive online almost as if in person.
The policies for the metaverse are in their infancy in writing. There are many other factors concerned in comparison to social media policies. There are more actual dimensions and the metaverse is a true social space where your real face (hopefully) is your avatar, if that makes sense. Violations of policies could be detected in speech and physical behaviour. Then there are your senses. Sight, sound and touch are involved, perhaps even your remaining senses in the future. What begets a policy violation there?
Social norms will guide how people behave in person, I am sure this will transfer to the metaverse. I can see some form of metaverse “police” appearing in interactions where people cross each others boundaries, giving warnings and citing policies.
Human behaviour will be easier to measure in the metaverse. Users who receive many warnings from the hypothetical metaverse police avatar might receive some takeaways for their normal daily lives. Remember, people meeting remotely want to get work done.
Tech Policy by Chris Doyle 