Meta is a company. That was the last message of Mark Zuckerberg's keynote address at the Connect conference, in which he also described a few ways Facebook - sorry, Meta - thinks about metaverse.
Meta is a "metaverse-first" company. That's what Zuckerberg said he hopes the signals change the name. But both in making that change and in other new Meta announcements, one thing is clear: Facebook is moving from the center of the digital universe to another application in the portfolio. And its days can be numbered.
Going forward, users will not need Facebook accounts to access other apps and services; each will be able to operate. (And it sounds like a "Meta account" will be a thing, but who knows what that will look like.)
- In fact, the Facebook app did not appear at all during Zuckerberg's speech. He was more focused on Meta's Horizon products than on any of the company's existing social media platforms. Although he agreed, they would have a place in the metaverse.
- Posting on the wall for a while here: Facebook's popularity has begun to rise, and declining, among younger users. Throw in half a decade of non-stop scandals, and while Facebook is still making a lot of money, it’s no longer a very good brand.
- Zuckerberg also revealed to The Verge that he knows F's name is dirty. "I think it helps people to have a relationship with a different company than with any particular product," he said, "which could replace all of that."
He intends to keep the company united, though: He told Information that he had not yet thought "deeply" about social classification and metrics, although that is how the company reports revenue from now on. (Also, interesting fact: No more $ FB on Wall Street, it's now $MVRS.)
So what is a metaverse? That’s what Zuckerberg says he and his company are focused on getting. In his keynote address, he described the applications you can use to play active games with friends around the world, to host meetings, show off your sick NFT collection, and much more. He made sure that much of this did not come soon, but it was coming.
And it does not come anytime soon: another Meta computer hardware works on it, including smart mirrors with emotional connections to EMG systems that can allow you to use small touches to control your devices.
Zuckerberg provided a preview of Facebook's Project, its first AR headset, with all the holograms and floating phones you can expect. But that, too, is still a long way off.
One device is coming soon, or at least soonish: "Project Cambria," a new state-of-the-art independent headset coming in 2022. It will have eye, face, and body tracking, and a very mixed ability for mixed real objects. That would be a big step forward.
Metaverse may replace Facebook as a corporate currency. Zuckerberg's extensive presentation focuses on how people can buy and sell items in these digital environments, and how goods can be transported between games and the world. As one Facebook commentator put it, "When you say ecosystem, you mean economic system!"
There was almost a dynamic vibration in Zuckerberg's keynote address, which many people seemed to enjoy. The origin of the whole thing was "metaverse is going to be huge, it's going to be amazing ... and we're going to be yours." Zuckerberg has repeatedly said he believes in open standards and building together with developers, but he has not made it clear where he wants Meta to start and end.
"Our role in this journey is to accelerate the development of basic technologies, forums and creative tools for living," he wrote in the revised Meta Developer Handbook, "and to weave these technologies through our social media applications."
He also took several photos of the closed forums - where he clearly had Apple in mind - and noted that "living under their rules has greatly influenced my views in the technology industry." He encouraged lower costs, more options, and innovation.
Like everything else in this space, there is a lot to fix. But the company, regardless of its name, has a long history of building the tallest walls around its walled garden, and is trying to be online rather than a good citizen. It's hard to imagine taking the same approach in metaverse.
Zuckerberg goes on to emphasize that he is not trying to divert attention from the Facebook Papers, or any other questions that affect the big blue app. But like Facebook - sorry, sorry, Meta! - looks at the next, most likely. But Facebook seems to be nowhere to be found.
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