It’s an NFT collection. An idea from a sci-fi novel. The next evolution of the internet. A product invented by Mark Zuckerberg. A video game.

If you’ve been conscious at any point between 2021 and the present, you’ve probably heard of the “metaverse,” and the many ways in which it will disrupt the very fabric of society. Two years into the hype, though, metaverse experts and laymen alike remain split about what exactly it is.

In Digiday’s Is This The Metaverse? podcast, journalists Alexander Lee and Sara Patterson break down the many different ways people are translating their physical lives into virtual worlds — and the ways brands and platforms are looking to make money from all this activity. But before they can define whether those activities are truly part of the metaverse, they need to come up with a practical definition for the term.

In the first episode of Is This The Metaverse? Lee and Patterson speak to metaverse builders, metaverse skeptics and metaverse power-users to figure out what people really mean when they talk about the metaverse.

In six episodes, Is This The Metaverse? elevates the perspective of both the companies converting physical experiences into virtual entertainment — via fitness, concerts, fashion, advertising and coworking — and the individuals who are actually hanging out inside these virtual spaces. It will explore why people are motivated to spend time inside the metaverse, and how their motivations can mesh, or clash, with the platforms’ desire to make a profit.

Is This The Metaverse? is co-hosted by Alexander Lee, Digiday’s senior gaming and esports reporter, and Digiday audio producer Sara Patterson, with Glossy international fashion reporter Zofia Zwieglinska guest-hosting an episode on virtual fashion. Subscribe to Is This The Metaverse? now on Apple Podcasts — or wherever you get your podcasts.