Francesco is the founder and CEO of Myrl, a social gateway for virtual worlds. Driven by the concept of outeroperability, rather than interoperability, Myrl is building a layer on top of the virtual worlds with the ultimate goal of turning the system of the worlds into an integrated playground. Francesco has been working over the past 7 years as a strategic communication consultant and qualitative researcher specializing in social media strategy and immersive marketing. He holds a Ph.D. in New Media Studies and Sociology from the University of Rome. His research has been focussing on immersive communication, mapping the pervasive and ubiquitous spread of immersive strategies and tracking down the history of immersion from religious rituals, planetariums and panoramic painting, up to ambient music, experiential marketing, alternate reality games and virtual worlds. He is currently Lecturer in new media at the IULM University in Milan and is Senior Fellow at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto.