It will take some getting used to. If Facebook’s social network will continue to exist, the company will now be called “Meta”. On Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the name of a new structure encompassing Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus. Officially, it is about looking to the future and the “metaverse”, this universe mixing virtual and augmented realities, considered by Zuckerberg as “the future of mobile Internet”. And to try to turn the page of the controversies, in full storm of the “Facebook papers” unveiled by the whistleblower Frances Haugen.
????Mark Zuckerberg announces the new name of the structure which will encompass Facebook (and WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus etc): So it will be … “Meta” (for the metaverse) #FBConnect #Facebook #Meta pic.twitter.com/PLuWnTIrkQ
– Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) October 28, 2021
“Our brand is so tied to a single product that it can no longer represent everything we do today. Ultimately, I hope we will be seen as a metaverse company, ”explains Mark Zuckerberg. If the name of the company changes, “our mission remains the same: to bring people together. Our apps and brands don’t change ”.
Heading for the metaverse
During the Facebook Connect conference, dedicated to the group’s virtual / augmented reality projects, Mark Zuckerberg tried to explain to the general public his vision of the metaverse. The Internet, he began, became visual, moving from text to images and video, as computing became miniaturized, from computers to smartphones. The metaverse will be the next transformation, he says.
Here is the vision of Facebook’s metaverse, which is to be “the successor to the Internet”, blending VR / AR and video in a persistent universe, with a shared sense of “presence”. #FBConnect #Facebook pic.twitter.com/KobgFRgQGR
– Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) October 28, 2021
Concretely, the metaverse is a connected and persistent universe, as imagined by science fiction, recently in the film Ready Player One. With glasses or a helmet, the user is transported to a world that can replace or overlap with his environment. Instead of being in your living room, you can admire the view from a chalet by a lake. And all his friends can travel there with their avatar, for virtual meetings replacing the conference vision.
Cut the cord with Facebook
Video games, collaborative work, education, shopping … This immersion and this feeling of “presence” will upset our remote interactions, says Mark Zuckerberg. However, it will take “several years” before its vision materializes, with progress still needed on the hardware side.
Revelations from the whistleblower, threats from American elected officials, public weariness … This change of name – and of course – seems to go beyond a publicity stunt to try to turn the current page of controversies: with Meta , “You will no longer need a Facebook account to use our services in the long term,” promises Mark Zuckerberg. The cord is – maybe – cut.
–
