What is Metaverse - Facebook's big bet, and next big thing after internet?

If media reports are to be believed, Facebook is planning to rebrand itself with a new name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse. It has already announced its plans to create 10,000 jobs in the European Union in the next five years to work on the futuristic technology. Facebook already has 10,000 employees in its Reality Labs division working on Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality devices and it has invested heavily in VR and AR with a goal to connect its 2.8 billion monthly active users through several devices and apps.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said in July that over the next several years the company would transition from being seen primarily as a social media company to being a metaverse company.

 But what is metaverse?

The term ‘metaverse’ was coined by American writer Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, where a 3D virtual world was inhabited by the avatars of real people. He described the concept as a successor to the internet. 

While his idea of the metaverse was fiction then, it is slowly turning into a reality now. 

The definition of metaverse is evolving, but today it refers to real-time 3D virtual spaces, where users like you and I can meet, create, socialise, work, buy goods and services and attend events with other people who are not in the same physical space.

A true metaverse is meant to perfectly replicate real life, although it is unclear how many more years it will take to develop.

For now, nothing comes closer to the metaverse experience than video games. Games like Fortnite and Roblox host virtual events. American rapper Travis Scott’s live virtual concert in Fortnite in April last year attracted 27.7 million players. 

Many platforms are developing Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology that will allow users to fully interact in virtual worlds. 

Several platforms that are powered by blockchain are also allowing users to build and own decentralised digital assets. Such assets are often traded using cryptocurrencies. 

Blockchain platforms like Decentraland and The Sandbox allow people to buy virtual real estate, trade artworks in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and create their own environments. The land prices in Decentraland have surged in the past few years.  

Facebook recently unveiled the beta version of its VR-powered app Horizon Workrooms, where colleagues represented by animated avatars could work together in virtual conference rooms. The collaboration tool works on Facebook’s VR headset Oculus Quest 2. Together with the app, Facebook announced a $50-million fund to develop the metaverse more responsibly and collaboratively. 

Apple, Google and Microsoft are investing in cloud computing and Virtual Reality (VR) technology, anticipating the growth in this space. Microsoft is building what it calls ‘Enterprise Metaverse’ with Mesh, a cloud-based mixed reality app, to make collaboration and software creation easier.

In conclusion, the metaverse is being seen as the convergence of physical and digital worlds. Let’s brace for it.