FACEBOOK REBRANDING AND MARK ZUCKERBERG'S METAVERSE

Shalom Solomon 5th November, 2021

The tech giants of this era will not be complete without mentioning the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs (of blessed memory), Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and of course, Mark Zuckerberg.

These group of people are not only giants in the tech industry, they are also among the richest people in the world (except Steve Jobs, for obvious reasons). This fact goes on to prove that above all, the future of the world as we know it, is to a large extent influenced by innovations in technology.

Now, these remarkable personalities in the tech sector have set themselves apart by coming up with new and improved ways to solve problems. They in a way find solutions to problems that have not yet been discovered.

This singular reason, is what makes their work unique.

I mean, take Facebook for instance, who knew that we would need a website that will give people all over the world access to our pictures and data? Or that the internet could be used for mundane stuff like sharing memes, pictures, jokes or videos for the viewing pleasure of others?

People like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Jeff Bezos all saw these needs way before we knew we had them. They saw a gap in the internet for socialization and created a bridge to fill the space.

Today the world is connected using social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter and so on.

Facebook is rebranded to Meta

Currently, the social media, tech giant, Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new step for social media space.

The CEO of Facebook rebranded the company's name from Facebook to Meta which is in line with the new vision of the company.

In an internal meeting with his employees, he disclosed plans to expand his social media space into a metaverse. Where people will not only get a flat experience of socializing, but a full virtual experience when they link up with others online.

If you are thinking Virtual reality computer games right now, you are most definitely right.

Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse goes beyond Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, his vision covers a complete virtual world, a digital replica or close enough replica of our every day spaces such as offices, conference halls, houses, etc.

In an interview with Casey Newton, Mark Zuckerberg prompted listeners to imagine a world where you can hold meetings with someone who is on another part of the world, but a holograph of the person is seated on your couch.

Very sci-fi like huh?

Well, the CEO of Facebook has said that this fantasy is soon going to be made into reality. Already, there are gaming companies with products that use Virtual reality and Augmented reality.

Not only do these games provide a more wholesome experience, people are actually more engaged when using these games, in fact, they are quite popular with gamers.

The metaverse will be more than a social media space. People on the metaverse will have avatars that they can use to move from one location to another on the metaverse.

That means, you can learn a skill, exercise, attend a concert, attend a meeting, be part of a protest or even go to school right in your living room.

Is this really possible?

If there is anything technological innovations have taught us, it is the fact that "nothing is actually impossible". Currently, Facebook has a VR space Oculos. People use can enter these virtual spaces using special gadgets (which are sometimes a bit clunky if we'd be honest). Be that as it may, with the new metaverse, part of the objectives is to create light weight hardware to improve the user experience of the product. So, in the near future, we might not need to be in an actual church to attend a wedding ceremony, or to attend Sunday service. We would be able to do all these on the internet.

What's more?

Critics have raised concerns that Facebook is doing the whole rebranding package to deflect attention from negative publicity the company has been receiving recently.

A majority of the concerns fueling the negative comments are related to the issue of security, child safety issues, online harassment and surprisingly, threats to democracy.

The critics state in many works, their concern on how the social media company plans to manage a metaverse when it could not properly manage Facebook and its other social media platforms.