People were surprised lately why Facebook announced that it has changed its name to Meta which brings together their applications and technologies under one new company brand. The reason is the company’s focus this time is to bring Metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.
Why this sudden rush for Metaverse? What is the Metaverse?
For Facebook users like me it would be interesting what the future is in store for the users. The term Metaverse has quite an extensive definition laden with technical terms but I would like to define it in as simple term as possible. It is actually a combination of the word “meta” which means beyond and “universe” which will make use of the internet to create a virtual universe. However, it is not only a virtual world but an augmented reality as well. I found this definition from link.springer.com as simple to understand as to the difference of Augmented Reality (AR) ( it’s a real world but enhanced by superimposing computer generated information on top of it) and Virtual Reality (VR) (not real but provides almost and/or believable experiences in a synthetic or virtual way.
In his Founder’s Letter, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that from now on, Meta (the new name of Facebook) focus will be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first. In other words, we don’t need a Facebook to use their other services in the future. He describes in this letter how they will utilize Metaverse to further improve social interactions. Meta will use a technology where we will feel like we are right there in another place together with friends and loved ones as if we are truly present doing almost anything we can imagine – work, training and workshop, create, play – which we cannot do with existing computer and phone technology today. It will be a future where we can be at our workplace, meet with our office people without traveling through traffic and have a get-together with friends to touch base without having to go somewhere but we can be someplace which we will agree to meet – such as in a relative’s home or in a restaurant or in a park or resort or watch a concert in a concert hall – without having to get out of our homes or wherever we are in any place in the world. We can be together as if we are together in one place but actually we are in different places. This will help in reducing traffic and spend quality time with the right people at the right time and as the Founder says “reduce carbon footprint”.
Holograms ( when illuminated via a laser), can form an exact 3D clone of the object and duplicate its features and you can even touch it with the use of haptic feedback which uses touch to communicate with users. But explaining all of these in details will take a longer write-up. But simply said, Meta is looking into the future where physical things can be turned into holograms such as your workstation with multiple monitors, your TV and gadgets, even board games and the possibility is endless. Instead of physical objects, these will be holograms that will be designed by the creators.
After a week of Facebook’s announcement of their future projects using Metaverse, Microsoft also announced the use of Mesh for their Microsoft Team meetings application. This is very interesting too, but it will take another article to explain its features.
It used to be, that like me, we are initially wary of using Facebook and then later we started to come out of our shell and discovered its benefits. Then we move on to using Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and although there are downsides in every application, we just have to be careful to harness its benefits and avoid its pitfalls just like with any use of technology. As Meta mentioned, it will not increase our screen time but will maximize the time we spent on these applications. We are seeing the next evolution in social technology through this move by Meta beyond 2D screens toward a more immersive experience through the use of AR and VR.
It is exciting but we can only have an objective evaluation when we can really use it and experience it in the future. Hopefully, these new technologies will help bring people closer not apart and will make relations more authentic not apocryphal.
(Wilma Miranda is a Managing Partner of Inventor, Miranda & Associates, CPAs, Chair of the Media Affairs Committee of FINEX, Member of the Board of Directors of KPS Outsourcing, Inc. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions.)