The term “metaverse” is the new buzzword to draw the attention of the IT sector, to the point where one of the most well-known internet platforms is rebranding to reflect its adoption of the future concept.
The announcement by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday that his firm will be renamed Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short, could be the most significant development in the metaverse since science fiction writer Neal Stephenson invented the word in his 1992 novel “Snow Crash.”
However, Zuckerberg and his team are far from the only tech visionaries with ideas for how the metaverse, which will combine virtual reality and other technology, should develop. Some people who have been thinking about it for a while are concerned about a new world linked to a social media behemoth that could gain access to even more personal information and are accused of failing to stop the spread of dangerous misinformation and other online harms that exacerbate real-world issues.
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE METAVERSE?
Consider it a 3D version of the internet. It’s a “virtual environment” that you can enter rather than just gaze at on a screen, according to Zuckerberg. It’s essentially a universe of infinite, interconnected virtual communities where people can meet, work, and play utilizing VR headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps, and other technologies.
According to Victoria Petrock, an expert who analyses developing technologies, it will also include other areas of online life such as shopping and social media.
“It’s the next generation of connectedness,” she explained, “when all of those things start to come together in a seamless, doppelgänger universe, where you live your virtual life the same way you live your physical life.”
WHAT ALL CAN BE DONE IN THE METAVERSE?
Things like attending a virtual concert, taking a virtual vacation, and purchasing and trying on digital apparel.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the metaverse could be a game-changer for the work-from-home shift. Employees could see their co-workers virtually instead of on a video call grid.
Horizon Workrooms, a meeting software for businesses that work with Facebook’s Oculus VR headsets, has received mixed reviews thus far. The headsets are expensive, costing upwards of $300, putting many of the metaverse’s most cutting-edge experiences out of reach.
Users who can afford it would be able to wander between virtual worlds established by different corporations using their avatars.
“Being able to teleport from one experience to another will be a big part of the metaverse experience,” Zuckerberg says.
Tech firms must yet figure out how to connect their various web channels. To make it work, rival technological platforms will need to agree on a set of standards, so that there aren’t “people in the Facebook metaverse and other people in the Microsoft metaverse,” according to Petrock.
IS FACEBOOK MAKING A MASSIVE INVESTMENT IN THE METAVERSE?
Zuckerberg is betting big on the next generation of the internet, which he believes will be a key part of the digital economy. In the future years, he expects people to start thinking of Facebook as a metaverse corporation rather than a social media firm.
Critics question if the prospective pivot is an attempt to divert attention away from the company’s current problems, which include antitrust investigations, testimony from whistleblowing former workers, and concerns about how it handles misinformation.
Following the copying and turning over of internal research materials to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, former employee Frances Haugen has accused Facebook’s platforms of harming children and instigating political violence.
They were also given to a handful of news organizations, which published multiple articles about how Facebook put profits ahead of safety and disguised its own studies from investors and the public.
IS THE METAVERSE SIMPLY A SOCIAL MEDIA PROJECT?
No. Zuckerberg has stated that “no single firm” will be able to develop the Metaverse.
Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia are among the companies promoting the Metaverse.
“We believe there will be many firms creating virtual worlds and settings in the metaverse, just as there have been many companies doing things on the Web,” said Richard Kerris, vice president of Nvidia’s Omniverse platform.
“It’s critical to be open and expandable so that you may teleport to multiple worlds, whether they’re created by one firm or another, just as I do when I move from one web page to another.”
Companies that make video games are also taking the lead. Epic Games, the maker of the famous video game Fortnite, has received $1 billion from investors to help fund its long-term metaverse aspirations. Another major player in the game platform is Roblox, which describes the metaverse as a place where “people can come together within millions of 3D experiences to study, work, play, create, and socialize.”
Consumer brands are also attempting to capitalize on the trend. Gucci, an Italian fashion business, teamed up with Roblox in June to sell a line of digital-only accessories. Coca-Cola and Clinique both sold digital tokens that were marketed as a way into the metaverse.
DOES THIS RISK MY DATA, AGAIN?
In some ways, Zuckerberg’s acceptance of the metaverse contradicts a core premise of its most ardent supporters. They saw the metaverse as a way for online culture to be free of tech platforms like Facebook, which took control of people’s accounts, images, posts, and playlists and traded off the information they derived from it.
“We want to be able to go around the internet with ease, but we also want to be able to move around the internet without being tracked and monitored,” said Steve Jang, managing partner of Kindred Ventures and a cryptocurrency expert.
Facebook’s business model, which is centred on utilizing personal data to sell targeted advertising, appears to be expanding into the metaverse.
“Ads will continue to be an important element of our strategy throughout the social media parts of what we do, and it will probably be a substantial part of the metaverse as well,” Zuckerberg said during the company’s most recent earnings call.
Petrock expressed concern that Facebook is attempting to lead the way towards a virtual world that may require even more personal data and provide huge possibilities for misuse and misinformation, despite the fact that it hasn’t addressed such issues in its current platforms.
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