Defining the Metaverse through the lens of academic scholarship, news articles, and social media

The emergence of the Metaverse has received varied attention from academic scholars, news media, and social media. While the term ’Metaverse’ has been around since Neil Stevenson’s 1992 novel, Snow Crash, the definition of the Metaverse changes depending on who and when it is described. In this study we analyze various works about the Metaverse from ACM publications on the topic, to news media reports, to discussions on social media. Using topic modeling techniques and natural language analysis, we show how each community speaks about and defines the Metaverse.