Zuckerberg plans to turn Facebook into a metaverse company

Mark Zuckerberg decided to unveil his vision about transforming Facebook from its traditional purpose – a social media network – into an online metaverse in the following five years.

A metaverse is an online experience where people can work, play games, and communicate virtually using VR headsets.

The Facebook CEO explained it as a space where users are in it instead of just viewing content.

One metaverse application was jumping virtually into a 3D concert after watching on a mobile phone screen. Mr. Zuckerberg commented that people could feel present with other people with this application while being in different places. These experiences will be of various types like dancing or doing fitness.

Facebook also works on this feature that will allow users to create their ideal workplace using VR.

Mr. Zuckerberg noted that people would be able to sit as a hologram on somebody else’s couch in the near future instead of just making a phone call. This will feel like people are in the same place, even if they are hundreds of km away.

Facebook invested massively in virtual reality, spending around $2bn on getting Oculus, which develops its VR products.

In 2019, it launched a new feature, an immersive environment where users can chat virtually with an avatar using Oculus headsets.

Zuckerberg admitted that VR headsets needed some improvements for people to work with them all day.

The origins of Metaverse

The idea of a metaverse is successful among tech companies. They believe it might be a new 3D internet where people can spend time and hang out virtually.

Its origins come from the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, representing an internet successor based on virtual reality.

Tech companies tried to execute metaverse elements in popular games like Fortnite and Roblox.