SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA — Facebook is betting big on creating a future where you can simply don a virtual reality device and step into a 3D world filled with 3D versions of real people.
Here are the details: The Guardian reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday, October 28 that the company is rebranding as Meta.
He also announced that the company will now be spending billions on creating a so-called “metaverse.” With “metaverse” company officials say they mean a digital world that will be much more immersive than before, and will feature many more virtual reality, or VR, elements.
For instance, instead of current interaction with others via written comments discussing posted 2D videos and photos, Meta’s vision would be for users to use VR headsets and other technologies to create the experience of stepping into a 3D world where they can interact verbally and visually with 3D representations of other users.
Meta officials say the metaverse would be a series of interlinked worlds, where a user moves seamlessly from Facebook’s world to Apple’s or Google’s, or a computer game’s world.
Meta said it was creating 10,000 new jobs in the European Union as part of growth plans that include building a metaverse.
Only time will tell if people will embrace Facebook’s new name and project.
In the wake of the Frances Haugen revelations, the company is currently struggling with an image of fueling political polarization and being bad for democracy as well as its users’ privacy, security and mental health.