Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made waves within the tech world recently when he revealed plans for a new kind of digital platform, known as the Metaverse. While it’s unveiling hasn’t been that much of a surprise given that many of Zuckerberg’s long-term plans haven’t exactly been a secret, it’s only now that we know what’s behind the Metaverse and what’s in store for the average user.
According to Zuckerberg, the Metaverse is meant to be the universe brought into the real world, where current technologies will merge with futuristic virtual reality to give us something entirely new. It’s designed to be a series of endless virtual communities that are connected, allowing people to talk to one another, work, play games, purchase things, and much more.
What Users Can Do In The Metaverse
While Facebook has not revealed everything about the new platform just yet, the general public was given a general idea of what they can expect from it. To start with, there’s a big emphasis on both virtual and augmented reality, meaning that a user would need to first purchase a headset in order to properly participate in what the Metaverse has in store.
Part of the focus is also on providing an online and virtual work environment for employees. This would involve creating digital offices where workers would be able to communicate and collaborate amongst one another without having to leave their homes. While many believe that it could potentially improve the work environment and ethic of workers, the hardware required to be part of the Metaverse is more expensive than many can afford. It’s yet to be announced whether it can be used for general web surfing, such as for sites like eBay or https://ausbet.net.au.
The Merge Of Different Platforms
Most people are probably aware that Facebook acquired both Instagram and Whatsapp over the last decade, which collectively harbour billions of people between them. It’s also been speculated that Zuckerberg would eventually decide to merge all the various platforms into a single entity. In fact, that seems to be exactly what’s happening with Metaverse, where we’ll see all of Facebook-owned services and platforms coming together to create a single space for users.
But the news of the Metaverse comes at a time when Facebook itself has been in something of a crisis. With multiple antitrust suits against it, the leaked data of hundreds of millions, and a privacy policy that leaves much to be desired, many experts in the field believe that the creation of the Metaverse is a way for Zuckerberg and his businesses to draw the public’s attention away from all of their controversies.
Facebook has lost a huge contingent of its users over the last few years and continues to haemorrhage younger users as they turn to new forms of social media like TikTok. It’s unclear whether this is part of Facebook’s plans to try and attract new legions of users or if it was something that was eventually going to be unveiled either way.
It’s too early to tell exactly how the Metaverse will affect the world, but for now it’s just a matter of waiting to see how it plays out.