Social VR and Our Virtual Social Graphs
Social VR could be the means in which we strengthen the otherwise weak connections between us and our virtual companions. Currently, when we ask someone to describe their “virtual network” they probably respond with the number of friends they have on Facebook or the number of followers they have on Instagram. Although number of friends / follower count accurately describe the magnitude of their virtual social reach, these metrics do nothing to describe the strength of our social connections. In fact, in many cases, these numbers do not even closely approximate answers to questions like “how many close virtual connections do you have”. Many of our online connections do not offer strong social value, but VR is aimed to change that – VR can effectively shrink our virtual social presence but strengthen our social connection.
In social VR experiences interaction with another user is not mindless scrolling through their photos, dropping a like on one of their photos, or leaving a cliche comment on their posts. Social interaction in VR are truly present, human interactions. In social VR you are speaking face-to-face with another virtual user, using fully animated body language, and socializing approximately as one would in the non-virtual world. This sense of social presence will reinforce our connections with those we decide to engage with, but the time and intentionality involved will make these types of interactions far rarer than current-day online social interactions; consequently making the size of what people describe as their “virtual social network” much smaller but much stronger.