So what is “the metaverse”, exactly?

So is the metaverse the next big advance that will revolutionize the way we all connect with each other? Is it just a repackaging of existing technologies into a new catch-all concept? Or is it just the latest buzzword marketing term?

The answer to that depends on what you mean by metaverse".

If there's ever been a buzzword that truly gets under my skin, it's this one. It's clearly manufactured and groomed by corporations, Facebook especially, to distract form that company's massive problems, lousy reputation, and damaging effects on society, and yet, tech media gobble it all up. The metaverse is nothing. There's nothing that exists today called the metaverse" that's any different from things that existed four years ago, or even eight years ago.