Facebook = Meta

Facebook has recently changed its name to Meta platforms Inc., much to the bemusement of a lot of people. What is Meta? Why Meta? And will this bold new vision and direction pay off?

Before we go into the details of Meta, Facebook has run a lot of bad press and has been described as “worse than tobacco”. Regulators have chided and penalised Facebook for violating privacy and unethically promoting misinformation via its algorithms. This change or rebranding of Facebook is seen as some as running away from its name or distancing itself from the “uncool” image that it has.

That said, it’s curious to know what “META” is.  Meta or Metaverse as it’s called is a virtual universe where we exist, play, collaborate through our digital self. The world Meta is derived from the Greek word, above and beyond, after or across. MetaVerse, therefore, is above and beyond this universe which feels just as real. It is a broad term which kinds can relate to where instead of playing a video game from the outside, the players go inside the game via a virtual reality headset or the player become the characters and gets immersed in it virtually and have a deeper experience.

We may not have to attend the meeting via a Zoom call on video but can attend it virtually by being physically present in a digital avatar. In the Meta future, you can also attend your cousin’s wedding in Kolkata or enjoy a friend’s birthday party in New York digitally.

It may be possible to see a cricket match from all angles, or the angle of the batsman, attend a virtual concert of your favourite composer A.R. Rahman. The possibilities are endless.  Already a virtual concert of the singer Arianna Grande was held and if it becomes popular maybe the preferred format later.

All this may seem outlandish but we have to remember that a few years back all the gadgets which seem commonplace and a part of life now seemed completely ridiculous. Giant companies like Microsoft, NVidia are early adopters of and are pouring large sums of money into developing a huge ecosystem around Metaverse. The two terms which are synonymous with Meta are Virtual Reality or Augmented reality. A popular video game Roblox or Epic games by Fortnite is the experience of Metaverse. Facebook has developed a headset Oculus and Snap/ Microsoft have developed AR/VR glasses to enter the Metaverse universe.

These companies are spending billions of dollars in research and development to create the hardware and software to make this the next big thing. It may take years to develop a world where we can hang out with friends, play, shop, create, and more. It seems weird but big fashion makers have started making virtual clothing that can be worn by people’s avatars. As work from home & homeschooling have become an inevitable reality there is an increasing need to make remote lives more natural.

Facebook in a blog post said that it’s not necessarily about spending more time online but making the time spent online more meaningful. Facebook and the big tech have the big bucks to make such big bets into the future. Facebook makes 26 billion $ a year in ad revenue and it’s hard to imagine it will let that slip easily.

If Meta does become the future Mark Zuckerberg can be the visionary who changed our lives not once but twice or it just may be a bet which did not play out.

Let’s discuss this on META in a few years. 🙂