Utopian or dystopian? The portrayal of the metaverse in popular news on social media

Abstract

The metaverse has sparked lots of interest worldwide as many giant tech companies are pursuing this futuristic idea. However, it has not been properly studied empirically by social science scholars yet. Considering the vital role played by media frames in affecting people's attitudes and behaviors towards the technology, this study examined the framing of the metaverse in popular news across Social Network Sites (SNSs) by cluster analyzing Entman's four operational frame elements. It identified five frames: economic prospect frame, unwanted future frame, consumer prospect frame, threatening future frame, and probable future frame. Overall, findings suggest a polarized framing of the metaverse on social media. While the majority of voices about the metaverse are optimistic, there is also a strong negative and dystopian perspective in more than one third of the SNS news. This positive or negative one-sided framing of the metaverse on SNSs may therefore fragmentize and polarize the audience, rather than informing in a balanced way. Implications for future research are discussed.