Facebook as a Metaverse Company
The Critical Points
Facebook is a Metaverse Company? What does that even mean?
It simply means that you will become one with the digital world. The vision of Facebook is to have you come to the digital side and exist there, fully immersed for the entirety of your life.
Why would Facebook be the right company to beckon you into the metaverse? The answer is quite simple, you are already somewhat immersed on their platform. You chat, connect, and may update your status regularly. You are already a contributor to the Facebook platform. You used to engage with text, now you engage with pictures, videos, and more.
It is likely that you used to access Facebook on your desktop but now it is increasingly true that more access Facebook and the world wide web through their phones. Facebook states that will be submerged in the metaverse.
As you are immersed in it, that opens up opportunities for more experiences online, from gaming to videos and meetings in the metaverse, it will feel like you are present as opposed to separate. Zuckerberg notes that you will feel like you are in it instead of an observer.
The Origins of Facebook and Its Relation to Society
You are on Facebook to stay connected to family, friends, and acquaintances. Others are on Facebook because you are on it. They can advertise to you and nudge you to buy the latest fidget spinner or head massager.
One may find a job on Facebook or class notes. Further, people may also get together to talk about different aspects of life in various groups on Facebook. It is supposed to serve as a connector.
The firm has been pretty successful, it has over 2.5 billion monthly active users. Many have said that it is a nation in and of itself, only digital. Its revenues were $85 billion as of 2020. It lacks a physical and digital currency but it captures attention and monetizes it.
The firm owns Instagram, Whatsapp, and has stakes in infrastructure firms like Reliance in India. It is certainly one to contend with in the world today. But it still feels the need to transform and become something more, lest it withers and dies like many other large firms.
So, what is Facebook’s solution?
It seek to become a metaverse company. But what is a metaverse company? What exactly does that mean?
Let’s find out.
The Metaverse
The metaverse is more of a shift to fully digital life. It is about doing a wide variety of activities digitally. That means that you will work, have fun, and spend a large portion of your time in a digital world. Zuckerberg notes that the metaverse is still forming and that it doesn’t fully exist yet.
Technologies like Virtual Reality are going to be helpful in keeping you immersed in this world. From avatars that help you express yourself to augmented reality, the metaverse is there to help step into the next phase.
It is not merely about static images but more organic, natural, feeling representations of yourself and the world around you. The idea is to make engagement online as rich as it is in the real world.
We are already transitioning to that with aspects like gifs, emojis, and similar ways of communicating but these are still only partly there.
Facebook notes that it will focus on
– Immersion
– Interoperability
– Individual ownership of various digital asssets
– Privacy
One interesting point was how you will have holograms instead of TVs and take items project them into the world.
The metaverse is not only about virtual reality, augmented reality, but a mixture of cryptocurrency, virtual goods, natural interfaces, teleporting (digitally), representation and presence.
Does this mean that tomorrow will be more fascinating and better than today? Will these technologies help to solve issues that we are facing today? What does a creative economy really look like in genuinely adding to quality of life for people on planet Earth?