What is the metaverse and how will it work?

The term “metaverse” is the latest buzzword to capture the tech industry’s imagination — and while Facebook parent Meta is the best-known entrant into this futuristic virtual concept, it's certainly not the only one. Mark Zuckerberg’s all-in embrace — including renaming his company and investing tens of billions of dollars — might be the biggest thing to happen to the metaverse since science fiction writer Neal Stephenson coined the term for his 1992 novel “Snow Crash.” But Zuckerberg and his team are hardly the only tech visionaries with ideas on how the metaverse, which will employ a mix of virtual reality and other technologies, should take shape.