New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS): As the world of technology goes gaga over the metaverse, more than one-third of consumers (35 per cent) have never heard of the buzzword, according to a new report.

A Gartner survey found that 58 per cent of respondents have either heard of the metaverse but do not know what it means, or think they understand the metaverse but would struggle to explain it to someone else.

Only 6 per cent of people identify as being comfortable enough in their understanding of the metaverse to explain it to others.

"This is a helpful signal to temper short term expectations of the metaverse, and its potential impact on consumer's daily life," said Kyle Rees, senior director analyst.

"It will be exciting to see how meta-aware companies begin to make sense of next-generation technologies to bring new products, services and experiences to the world around us," he added.

Of those who at least know about the metaverse, 60 per cent have no opinion on it, and only 18 per cent are actually excited about it.

Meanwhile, 21 per cent say they're concerned about the impacts the metaverse might have.

"Even properly communicating business use cases around metaverse-adjacent concepts, such as AI and augmented reality, will go a long way in demystifying what is still largely an unknown technology to the everyday consumer," said Rees.

Meta (formerly Facebook) has popularised the buzzword, with plans to invest $10 billion into building the AR/VR technology around metaverse. It even calls its employees 'metamates'.

"Contemplating the metaverse is a luxury that most people don't have time for currently. Getting people on board to see past the individual pieces of AI or head-mounted displays is paramount to them truly embracing the multiple technologies that make up a complete metaverse," said Rees.