You've probably already heard it in the news: The company Facebook will be renamed Meta Platforms starting from October 28, 2021, shortened to Meta. This American company, co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg, owns platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. What does Meta Platforms have to offer to users, and what is the vision of this 'renewed' company? You can read all about it in this blog!
To be clear, the app/website Facebook will retain its name, only the umbrella company is changing names.
VR Revolution
When Meta was still known as Facebook, it acquired the company Oculus in March 2014 for $2 billion. Since then, Oculus has become incredibly popular. However, it was not just this American technology company that became more popular: in the 6 years after Oculus was acquired (between 2014 and 2020), more than 65 different VR headsets have been designed! Could it be a coincidence that this happened after Facebook acquired Oculus?
Pssst! Did you know that our VRcafe also uses VR headsets from Oculus?
What does Meta stand for?
Oculus is into virtual realities (VR) and related technology. Something Meta will also focus on. In time, Meta wants the Internet user to evolve into a metaverse. Metaverse refers to the next generation, where existing, shared, and virtual spaces are connected in a virtual universe. In this vision of Meta's future, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will play a major role.
How does Meta work?
Meta wants to blur the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds through the use of VR headsets. Indeed, Andrew Boswroth, technology chief at Meta, says smartphones are not suited to encompass all aspects of the three-dimensional (3D) world. The company has even formed an alliance with Ray-Ban to design its own virtual glasses in the future. It is thought that Meta is doing this with the hope of being less dependent on Iphone maker Apple.
What can users do with Meta?
Meta stands for connecting people. While you are in virtual worlds, you can still video call your friends or respond to messages from your family. Meta also stands for blurring the boundaries between physical and virtual reality, for example, by transforming physical art into 3D art via the headsets. Everything that is tangible now, such as photos, videos, art, music, movies, and games, will all be holograms in the future, according to Zuckerberg.
Privacy & Safety
Meta says they consider privacy and security very important. Therefore, they think it is important that you as a user can choose when you want to be with other people, you can teleport to private bubbles when you want to be alone and you can block people you do not want in your virtual world. Meta says they understand that not everyone wants their social media accounts linked to virtual worlds. That's why they want to make it possible, for example at Meta work (virtual world where you can do your job), to log in through an account that is not Facebook's.
For now, Meta's views still sound very much like future plans. When they will be implemented and how successful they will be remains to be seen. Let's hope that the privacy & safety that Meta promises will actually be implemented and this company will not have as many scandals to its name as Facebook has had. In any case, we are very curious about the possible growth and developments of VR through the setup of this company.