New Delhi: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a big announcement at this year’s Connect event Thursday where he said the company is changing its name to Meta in its rebranding effort to reflect its focus on building the metaverse.
Zuckerberg said their company wants to be identified as a metaverse company now.
The company also unveiled a new logo on Thursday, replacing the thumbs-up symbol with a blue infinity shape, or a mobius strip.
The rebrand comes amid public relations crises being faced by the social media giant, after whistleblower and former employee Frances Haugen leaked documents that showed the company allegedly chose profit over safety.
Zuckerberg revealed some important features that can be expected in the metaverse — presence, avatars, home space, teleporting, interoperability, privacy and safety, virtual goods, and natural interfaces.
He said privacy and safety must be built into the metaverse from Day One.
“In order to unlock the potential of the metaverse, there needs to be interoperability,” Zuckerberg said.
“We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are”, he added.
Meta’s Plans For The Metaverse
One can already enter the digital world of virtual reality by wearing Facebook’s Oculus VR headsets. The headsets will allow the user to experience augmented reality, where elements of the digital world are layered on top of reality. Facebook’s smart glasses tie-up with Ray-Ban allow the user to enjoy a similar experience.
Zuckerberg said Metaverse will take gaming to the next level. Horizon Workrooms, Horizon Home, and Horizon World will be part of the metaverse.
Zuckerberg said their goal is still ‘Connecting People’. By just wearing glasses, people can enjoy an immersive experience in their home space.
Earlier this month, the social media giant said it was creating 10,000 new jobs in the European Union in order to build the metaverse.
The company has already announced a $50M investment programme to ensure the metaverse is built responsibly.
Earlier this week, the company said its investment in the Facebook Reality Labs division will reduce operating profit by $10 billion in 2021. This division looks after AR and VR efforts, and will be called Reality Labs. Also, the company will now term their VR headsets as Meta products.
Meta is investing $150 million to train the next generation of creators to build immersive learning content, the company announced at the Oculus Connect Event.
“For people, the metaverse will offer more choice than we’ve ever seen before,” said the company.
Zuckerberg said Thursday open standards, interoperability, privacy and safety will be built into the metaverse from Day One.
Meta’s innovation principles are — Never Surprise People, Provide Controls that Matter, Consider Everyone and Put People First.
After the metaverse comes into being, Zuckerberg said, users will no longer need to use Facebook to access Meta’s other services.
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What To Expect From The Metaverse?
Zuckerberg believes most people will be spending time in the fully immersive, 3D version of the internet, in the next decade. In the metaverse, avatars will enable floating in space. There will be photorealistic avatars, fantasy avatars, and different wardrobes.
The “feeling of presence” will be a defining quality of the metaverse.
The CEO said at the event that crypto technology and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) will play an important role.
The metaverse enables people to invite others into the virtual space. Teleportation in the metaverse is like clicking links on the internet, Zuckerberg said.
People can project themselves as holograms in the physical world.
The company also announced new AR and VR product updates. For instance, people can use their VR headset to call friends using Messenger, and can invite people to Horizon Home, which is the social media version of their home.
When one puts on the Quest Headset, Horizon Homes is the first thing he or she will see.
Horizon Worlds will allow the user to build worlds and jump into them. People can throw virtual parties and interact with artists.
Horizon Workrooms will allow different layers of communication in virtual reality.
There are tools in the metaverse with which one can place digital objects in the real world.
There is also a Horizon Marketplace, where people can create and sell 3-D digital items to help grow the Metaverse economy.
Creators and developers can make a good living through the metaverse. Meta will develop a healthy VR and AR Ecosystem, the company said.
Gaming In Metaverse
One can play chess, tennis and other games with any person in any corner of the world through Metaverse.
Vertigo Games, which is the company behind the famous game Arizona Sunshine, is also joining the metaverse.
Beat Saber, Grand Theft Auto, Blade and Sorcery Nomad, and Population One, a Battle Royale Game, will be launched on Quest.
One can also enjoy a full immersive experience while exercising.
Work In The Metaverse
The metaverse enables people to create the perfect work setup. They can work while wearing normal clothes, and can find themselves virtually in their office, while they are at home in reality.
Also, working in the metaverse will reduce travelling requirements. Reduced flights will be beneficial to the environment, the company said.
Learning In The Metaverse
One can learn about anything in the world, for instance, astrophysics, through the metaverse, by bringing it closer. Active communities can be built.
Users can teleport themselves to any point in the world, even to ancient realms. Medical students can practise how to use instruments.
Facebook will also integrate the benefits of metaverse with online learning platforms Coursera and EdX.
The Presence platform of the metaverse will empower developers to create mixed reality in Quest 2.
Spark AR is the software which is helping creators build experiences, such as co-existing in the virtual and real worlds.
The company also teased Polar, a mobile app for creating AR filters. Meta will develop display technology with pancake optics.
In order to build the Next Generation Metaverse, Meta will include realistic and stylised avatars, simulate clothing, create realistic virtual spaces, and perform 3-D reconstruction.
A technique known as Electromyography (EMG) will allow full-speed typing. EMG picks up neuromotor commands. Just by moving fingers, one can send text messages.
The company plans to introduce Project Cambria next year. This will bring a high-end, mixed reality headset that combines visual graphics with the real world in full colour, the company said at Connect.
The company is also working on a pair of AR glasses called Nazaré, which will be 5 millimetre thick glasses that allow hologram displays, Zuckerberg said.