The internet is arguably the most important technology revolution in the history of humankind. Web3’s potentiality has limitless opportunities to realize even broader societal change. Wan Wei Soh is passionate about empowering the masses to be on the right side of that change.
Wan Wei Soh is a Singaporean tech futurist, author, and thought leader in the web3 and Metaverse space. She advocates for open-source movements and is passionate about virtual beings and parasocial relationships. Wan Wei is also a founding team member of the dWeb Southeast Asian node.
She created IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective (IMC) to help 10 million people cross over to the web3 and Metaverse space. IMC counts NYSE-listed Nutanix, Hitachi, Crypto.com, and non-profit alliance Changemakers Xchange as some of the key partners in its portfolio.
“It is clear that we are entering a brand-new era, where traditional mindsets, structures, and institutions are slowly crumbling,” said Wan Wei. “The Metaverse comprises of multiple immersive, social, and interactive digital universes that give individuals a sense of agency, community, shared spatial awareness, and brand new experiences. Many people are intimidated by the rapid speed of change. A reinvention is needed, and that’s why we need a collective to curate knowledge and connections in such a fast-moving space. My team’s value add to the industry is through IKIGUIDE as our shared collective.”
Transitioning people, brands, and companies to web3 has the power to change the future Singapore of technology and people’s lives. IKIGUIDE is a growth collective set to serve four distinct groups in the Metaverse and web3 space:
Wan Wei advocates for an Open Metaverse – a shared safe space powered by open source ideology, with open access and is inclusive, diverse and equitable. Wan Wei feels that web3 radically disrupts business models because she sees a marketing trend where product to-consumer metrics (web2) have shifted to branded and open community concepts (web3).
In the web2 world, we use Minimum Viable Products (MVP) to test out ideas. In sharp contrast, the web3 world uses Minimum Viable Communities (MVC) to validate businesses. Why? Because value is primarily accrued linearly in the web2 space — users and consumers are targeted to be sold a product, which generates revenue for a business. The end goal is always to sell more, to get more revenue and sales.
In the web3 space, value is exponential and win-win. Unlike web2, it is not a zero-sum game. Because web3 is global and open, we now have the power to gather the top minds with similar intrinsic motivations, missions and visions together in one community. Far from the fear of having your ideas stolen by another as in web2, the magic in the web3 world is increasingly in the brainstorming and common community purpose, mission and vision. Everybody here wins together.”
Technology is developing at speeds never before imagined. Web3’s decentralization has the potential to restructure entire societies. Wan Wei and IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective place the human at the center: it empowers individuals to embrace the opportunities presented by web3. A decentralized internet is fair and open, and this sovereignty implies that people can own and control information and time. Wan Wei explained: “Web3’s decentralized blockchain protocols will enable individuals to connect to an internet where they can own and be appropriately compensated for their time and data, eclipsing an exploitative and unjust web where giant, centralized repositories are the only ones that own and profit from it.”
“At the core of a successful Metaverse realm is an exceptional, rich, and engaged user experience on the internet, where we are empowered to explore different versions of ourselves,” said Wan Wei. “To get there, any form of Metaverses (closed or open) will require extra hardware, more smart technology, and time to achieve.”
Web3 focuses on building an internet that’s more intelligent and easily accessible; the Metaverse (closed or open) is a virtual environment in which one can exist in parallel. NFTs are the first such pieces of the web3 internet people can own – with much more coming.
While web3 is being built, the changes to our everyday lives brought on by web2’s social networks, cloud computing, and mobile technology have tremendous and long-lasting effects. Web3 will blur the lines between physical and virtual realities to transform the way people interact with one another. And this, according to Wan Wei, makes her excited to get out of bed every single day.
Website: ikiguide.com
