Facebook is rebranded to Meta but what does all of this mean?

Facebook recently announced the rebranding from "Facebook" to "Meta." This doesn't mean that Facebook, the social network, will now be called Meta. Much like Alphabet is to Google, it means that the parent company that owns FB, IG, Oculus, and others is now called "Meta." 

To watch Meta's full announcement as well as their "forward-looking statements about their future business plans and expectations (which may vary in actual results): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvufun6xer8

Love it or hate it, the reality is this: Mark Zurckerberg announced that the "Metaverse" is the future of Facebook. He recently described his vision for an embodied internet at a time where the company faces fierce criticism from the public and lawmakers for its failures in moderating content and algorithms and spreading misinformation. 

You must've witnessed virtual reality in action if you've seen sci-fi movies and games such as The Matrix, Blade Runner, and Deus Ex. Or perhaps you've tried one of those Oculus headsets and played VR games at some point. Think of the Metaverse as a "VR Universe" where we can all live, work, and play. The term "Metaverse" was first coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. In his version of this universe, the "metaverse" was a virtual reality version of the internet. It was some sort of alternate universe with VR environments that used streets, structures, rooms, and everyday things. 

If you ask it of us, however, we're not fond of the concept of headsets. Have you tried one of those virtual reality headsets before? We remember when we tried them on for the first time: we were thrilled. Fifteen minutes later, however, we got the worst migraine ever and felt disoriented.

What was the sensible thing we had to do?

We had to take them off, and we thought to ourselves, "This is not what the real future of virtual reality looks like." In our opinion, true virtual reality should be accomplished without sticking a screen to your bloodshot eyes. Remember when your mom told you to sit back, far away from the TV screen? We do, too, and for a good reason. We believe virtual is still in its infancy, even though graphical capability will soon reach ultra-realism in the near future where you can't distinguish what's real from what's not. Facebook's current solution looks more cartoonish and may not be to everyone's liking. 

We like to think of it like this: Until we one day reach the sufficiently advanced augmented reality and virtual reality we've all been dreaming of, we'll stick to our phone screens without the goggles. Thank you very much.

However, in a recent interview with the Verge, Mark Zuckerberg described his vision of the Metaverse, which isn't just VR. According to Mark, the Metaverse will also be accessible across all computing platforms such as AR, PC, mobile devices, and gaming consoles. This was what he said to the Verge when he stressed that Facebook's goal is to help bring the Metaverse to life: 

"This is a big topic. The Metaverse is a vision that spans many companies — the whole industry. You can think about it as the successor to the mobile internet. And it's certainly not something that any one company is going to build, but I think a big part of our next chapter is going to hopefully be contributing to building that, in partnership with a lot of other companies and creators and developers. But you can think about the Metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it. And you feel present with other people as if you were in other places, having different experiences that you couldn't necessarily do on a 2D app or webpage, like dancing, for example, or different types of fitness. 

I think a lot of people, when they think about the Metaverse, they think about just virtual reality — which I think is going to be an important part of that. And that's clearly a part that we're very invested in, because it's the technology that delivers the clearest form of presence. But the Metaverse isn't just virtual reality. It's going to be accessible across all of our different computing platforms; VR and AR, but also PC, and also mobile devices and game consoles. Speaking of which, a lot of people also think about the Metaverse as primarily something that's about gaming. And I think entertainment is clearly going to be a big part of it, but I don't think that this is just gaming. I think that this is a persistent, synchronous environment where we can be together, which I think is probably going to resemble some kind of a hybrid between the social platforms that we see today, but an environment where you're embodied in it.

So that can be 3D — it doesn't have to be. You might be able to jump into an experience, like a 3D concert or something, from your phone, so you can get elements that are 2D or elements that are 3D. I'd love to go through a bunch of the use cases in more detail, but overall, I think that this is going to be a really big part of the next chapter for the technology industry, and it's something that we're very excited about. 

It just touches a lot of the biggest themes that we're working on. Think about things like community and creators as one, or digital commerce as a second, or building out the next set of computing platforms, like virtual and augmented reality, to give people that sense of presence. I think all of these different initiatives that we have at Facebook today will basically ladder up together to contribute to helping to build this metaverse vision.

And my hope, if we do this well, I think over the next five years or so, in this next chapter of our company, I think we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company. And obviously, all of the work that we're doing across the apps that people use today contribute directly to this vision in terms of building community and creators. So there's a lot to jump into here. I'm curious what direction you want to take this in. But this is something that I'm spending a lot of time on, thinking a lot about, we're working on a ton. And I think it's just a big part of the next chapter for the work that we're going to do in the whole industry."

Implementing this concept on a global scale across different platforms is challenging. According to Computerworld, "In other words, the only possible (but unlikely) way to end up with a single global and universal virtual space is if the internet or the web somehow evolves all the virtual parts that enable users to interact with all web services and each other in 3D virtual reality spaces. It's unlikely — because proprietary and exclusive platforms, with their artificial scarcity, will attract more investment — but possible." 

But a relevant question here is: How will this affect social media advertising? 

We think this might have the potential to be the precursor to a new type of internet, but only time will tell. Facebook, or Meta, is a social media behemoth. When it wants to transition within a 5-year timeframe into a new mode of communication and interaction, you know something big is happening, or at least will happen at some point. The Metaverse may potentially change how we interact with our devices, provided the technology is mature enough, in our opinion, of course. Adopting a virtual world has many technological, societal, and even ethical challenges that Facebook needs to address before real people decide to live, work, and play in a virtual world. For now, though, this seems to happen through VR goggles or glasses, which may end up giving you a migraine as it did to us.  

On the other hand, other companies such as Apple are betting on Augmented Reality (AR). What we know for sure is this:  

A VR, AR, or AR/VR hybrid future is coming, and it may affect how we work, play, and communicate with each other.

What do you think of the Metaverse? Are you excited about it? Or are you concerned? Let us know in the comments below. 

Speaking of AR, with Yalla Deals, you have access to 360 virtual tours for certain properties without the need for VR glasses. Move your phone around the projected room or property in the app, and your phone's accelerometer will do the trick.

No need for VR goggles. View 360 properties today on Yalla Deals with just your phone. 

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Sources: 

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3637952/will-zuckerbergs-metaverse-change-everything.html

https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview