According to a recent study from Hootsuite, we are spending a massive amount of time online at an average rate of around 6 hours a day. Now, what has caused this massive shift over recent months? It is not just our content consumption, but our social lives which have recently transgressed online to virtual modes. This is mainly meant for better communication and enhanced productivity. Now more than ever, we need to welcome the virtual world applications and transition to online workplaces.
Transition to the virtual world
In the wake of Covid-19, multiple startups have sprung up to the opportunity and leverage technology for social and organizational needs. Quarantining has surely taught entrepreneurs the significance of creating applications wherein people can spend more time in a virtual world for both personal and professional beneficence.
As lots of pundits speculate that Work from Home will be the new norm. These social startups will continue to grow in the future even post the COVID-19 world because they have established their market demand. With a ripe market and a lot of customers out there, it has become easier to test a prototype and release products for impact delivery.
2 main divisions of this virtual world:
- Professional social applications: These are being used for office meetings, organizing the day, and in some cases a complete virtual office where you can start and end the day.
- Personal Social applications: These include a lot of applications from meeting a lot of new people, discussing new things, and do tasks together. This could be finding people to virtual party with or playing online games together with a camera pointing at your face.
What adds to the curiosity?
There is a thrill in the unsuspected what gives the e-Adrenaline rush to the millennials. The spontaneity of online virtual gaming and finding new people is adding to the galore of the social world. There is an ecstasy in surprise that adds to the awe of this. People portray themselves as their original selves or can create an online avatar. Houseparty and clubhouse are some of the applications doing this.
What are applications doing differently?
Some applications are working towards creating a completely online world for us. Here one can look around in a map and point at different locations. If anybody is online at that location and wishing to participate in some activities like playing music or sharing things, social interaction is initiated.
Virtual offices of the future might get a lot more complex going forward. In a virtual office, people can simply log in, and have before them all the activities including meetings and tasks upfront in a very organized manner. They can then log out once done with the office hours. This could have its own advantages like saving real estate and be more organized, productive, and efficient. But along with this, the perils of micro-management come along. Additionally, the cons include loss of privacy and lack of face to face conversations.
How are customers reacting?
People are mostly having mixed reactions to such work from home applications and atmosphere. While some complained of too many meetings or the lack of a general office aura, others applaud the comfort, better management, and the saving of time in commute. It is speculated that Work from Home practices could entirely drive future offices.
The future certainly would only be certain after the normalcy resumes in the post-COVID world and we run focused experiments on customer groups to see how the customer response is. While gaming or virtuality has its own advantages, there are still some final contours that need to be championed.
Conclusion:
The social startup system will come with its bright and dark sides. While times like COVID wouldn’t be a commonality in the future, the lessons will be ingrained in the world. Complete or partial office virtuality should be adapted to better suit Work from Home opportunities. Similarly, social websites like High Fidelity, which offer an online event platform and virtual gathering place, will have a more than welcoming customer base in the future. But, more than everything, all the companies working in this field need to ensure that a balance with high output and efficiency is offered. Or it would rather just be another escape point for the unstructured youth in the virtual world.