Mark Zuckerberg has revealed his ambition on transforming Facebook from social media company to a “metaverse company” over a period of next five years.
But what actually is a metaverse company? To keep it simple, Metaverse is an online world where people can play game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets.
What Is Metaverse?
Mark Zuckerberg has described the metaverse ambition “integrated internet where instead of just looking at content – you are in it”.
He said to Tech tabloid The Verge in an interview that we should not be living through “small glowing rectangles”.
“It’s not the way people are made to communicate,” he said, referring to the reliance on cell phones.
“Most of the meetings we have today, you look at the face grid on the screen. That’s not the way we work things out. ”
How Can We Use Metaverse?
One metaverse application that Zuckerberg mentions about is being able to jump into almost a 3D concert after you start watching it on a mobile phone screen.
“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,” he said.
Facebook also plans to operate a “infinite office” that allows users to create their own ideal virtual workplace with VR.
“In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you’ll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I’ll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it’ll actually feel like we’re in the same place, even if we’re in different states or hundreds of miles apart,” he said. “I think that is really powerful.”
Investment In Virtual Reality
Facebook has invested heavily in virtual reality, spending $ 2bn (£ 1.46bn) to acquire Oculus, upgrading its VR products.
In 2019, the company launched Facebook Horizon – the only immersion site where users can meet and chat in a virtual space with a cartoon avatar using Oculus headsets.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that current VR headsets are “slightly cluttered” and need to be upgraded for people to work on them all day.
