Facebook has announced Metaverse as it’s now a project and many other tech companies have followed along. This has led to a renewed interest in avatars. These aren’t new, avatars have been around ever since there was an internet presence.
Since the avatar is used to represent your likeness online, users will pay close attention to these and use them to project their image while using the service. It’s also a way to make a statement and set up an avatar that will present your beliefs and aesthetics.
What’s an Avatar?
An avatar is a visual representation of your online personality. It’s used to be a stand-in for the user image and it’s sometimes seen as the persona the user is projecting online. In some cases, an avatar can be an actual image of the user.
When it comes to its use in the Metaverse, the avatar will be made to look like a cartoon version of the user’s image used on other social media. The VR technology will probably play a big role in how this rendition is made and what it looks like.
Make your Own Avatar
There is an abundance of avatar makers out there that will allow you to create your avatar and upload it to Meta or any other social media platform. These are usually simple enough to use but they still provide for a variety of features you could use to flex your creativity.
It’s important, however, to follow the guidelines presented by social media so that your avatar could be uploaded and used. These are about the aesthetic but also about the technical side of things, outlining what kind of files can be used when creating an avatar with an outside tool.
How to Make a Facebook Avatar?
Facebook has a tool for making an avatar in your likeness and it’s relatively easy and straightforward to use. It starts in the Facebook app. There you should click on the three lines in the right corner of the toolbar. Scroll the toolbar down to see more and select “Avatars.”
Tap next and you’ll open the avatar creation section. This is where you get to design your avatar from start to finish or use one of the images already uploaded to Facebook. Once you’re done tap the “Done” button and you get to use the avatar.
Make an Avatar from a Photo
It’s also possible to make an avatar out of a photo. There are online tools for both mobile devices and computers that do that and for the most part, they are free. The tools will require you to upload a photo that you want to be turned into an avatar to a cloud.
These tools are simple enough to use and in some cases, there’s not much to do anywhere but have a photo prepared and wait until it’s turned into a cartoon version of itself. The photo is then downloaded and used on social media.
Meta Avatars
When it comes to using Avatars on Meta, the chances are they will be in 3D since that’s the overall direction the augmented reality social media is going for. Those avatars were already available and presented when Mark Zuckerberg first showcased his virtual reality project.
Since the company that used to be known as Facebook also owns Instagram and Messenger changes are that these avatars are going to be available for these applications as well. The avatars can therefore be used throughout your internet presence regardless of what app you’re using.
The Use of AR
The use of augmented and virtual reality technology will play a big role in Metaverse as was announced from the get-go. That’s done through a partnership with Oculus, a VR headset company purchased by Meta (while it was still known as Facebook). The technology is groundbreaking and allows for a user to get immersed in VR.
The avatars will be animated and expressive, with a look somewhat similar to emoji’s offered by Apple or Android for their chat-based applications. The overall look is somewhat childish and amusing rather than photorealistic.
Marketing Opportunities
There are also numerous marketing opportunities that companies can take advantage of when it comes to using Metaverse. Some of them have already come to light and now that NFTs are a bigger part of the public space, chances are that other companies will go for the digital items market.
For instance, it was already announced that the Metaverse will team up with NFL teams and feature digital jerseys that your avatar can wear and that can be bought only to wear them while in Metaverse. Others will soon follow along since it’s an opportunity that’s well suited to this moment.
How to Choose an Avatar?
When choosing an avatar based on your photo, there’s little that you can do in terms of creativity. The avatar will have the aesthetic offered by the tool used to create it and it will be a cartoonish version of your photo.
However, if you’re making your own avatar from scratch, there’s more creativity to the process. You get to use the avatar as your stand-in, in the online world and that’s how you should approach the process and treat the avatar. It’s what you want others using the platform to see as an image of you.
Will Avatars Become Important?
It’s not easy to say how commonplace avatars will become. They may be if the Metaverse proves to be something more than a trend. At this point, there are a lot of big and prominent companies behind the idea and it seems it may take off.
Metaverse is announced as the new internet and the new way most of our interactions will now take place. That’s a rather ambitious task and it’s too early to say if they will get to be just that. If that turns out to be the case almost everyone will have an avatar that will be their public face in the Metaverse.
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