May Meta owned ‘metaverse’ develop into a lotus eaters’ island the place we overlook Fb’s murky previous?

With Meta’s early involvement in the Metaverse, Facebook is turning away from its gloomy present. What could the consequences be as she prepares to own us again with virtual reality (VR) -based social media?

Facebook has become Meta in its latest move towards renaming. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the new name, which means “beyond” in Greek, symbolizes that there is always more to be built and suggests that over time, Facebook will not be the only name that customers use use other company services. Clearly a distraction from Facebook’s current problems.

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Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson defined the term “Metaverse” in his 1992 novel Snow Crash as a three-dimensional world in which avatars of real people lead a virtual life. One of the futuristic predictions is that one day humanity will choose to live in virtual reality by uploading their consciousness to the metaverse, as was well explained in the National Geographic series Year Million.

As crazy as it sounds, Facebook’s move could be the start of it. A social space with virtual reality that would ultimately replace today’s Meta social media apps.

It has been proven that interacting on social media increases dopamine levels, which is why we become addicted to social media as well. I wonder how high these values ​​will be in a metaverse social media.

The rebranding of Meta could lead to a split between tradition and modernity, and when I say modern I mean futuristic black mirror type modern. I definitely see meta in the future, it won’t go away. But what would the future meta look like?

Will it be like Nosedive, where a social media company with likes and stars decides everyone’s fate, or like San Junipero, where people can live forever in Metas Metaverse?

Anyway, it looks like Meta owns us.

How Meta gets distracted from Facebook

As far-sighted as this rebranding is, Facebook’s intent is clear, distraction.

Facebook clearly wants to stay away from the impact of its old name, which begins due to its constant controversy over privacy and its preference of greed over social impact.

The name “Facebook” will even be phased out from products such as the video telephony portal.

Without a doubt, (the Facebook name) is definitely corrupted and toxic

Prashant Malaviya, a marketing professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, told Reuters that this suggests the company wants the rest of its apps to be tidier.

“Without a doubt (the Facebook name) is definitely corrupted and toxic,” he said.

Even if the media was full of speculation after switching to Meta, Zuckerberg kept things interesting by adding lifelike effects to a classic painting through mixed reality.

The commercial, headed “This is going to be fun,” gives the audience a taste of what to expect in the future Metaverse as they forget about Facebook’s current privacy and data protection issues.

Criticism of the rebranding

Facebook has received a lot of criticism from peers and critics for the leaks uncovered by whistleblower Frances Haugen, which shows the social media giant struggled to contain hate speech and misinformation.

Celebrity pundits and lawmakers, unsatisfied with Facebook’s gadgets so far, say the name change won’t stop them from government scrutiny of the potential harm caused by its social media apps, marketing, and branding will.

The criticism and ridicule have yet to impress Meta and his team, as was all expected

According to the Washington Post, Zuckerberg doesn’t just need to change the company name.

Zuckerberg and his wife are known to donate almost all of their Facebook shares to an organization advocating education, immigration reform, criminal justice, public health, and disease prevention.

Still, the CEO was unable to address the company’s problems despite “having a one-sided ability to solve them”. The Post pointed out four changes Zuckerberg could make, including “eliminating engagement-based ranking algorithms,” “helping a federal regulator to review Facebook’s functions and algorithms,” and “routine, transparent data disclosure to researchers.”

Read more: Reuters Inquiry into Amazon’s Unfair Business Practices in India Reveals Big Tech’s Big Bad Side

According to Bloomberg, Facebook could benefit from the rebranding if it brings about “structural change”.

“From an ethical standpoint, Facebook should focus on more pressing issues, like cleaning up the medical and political misinformation on its websites, rather than building a new platform that is supposed to cause similar damage.”

The criticism and ridicule have not yet impressed Meta and his team, as expected.

What Facebook could lose or Meta could gain

This isn’t the first time a company has decided to rebrand in the face of adversity when all else has failed.

In 2003, for example, cigarette maker Philip Morris Companies Inc. became Altria Group and private military company Blackwater USA became Xe Services, then Academi Training Center Inc. Both companies attempted a name change to avoid the attention that came from an unhealthy past.

The new name also brings with it expenses for logo design, color changes, and nuances such as the meaning of the name in different languages. After all that, it still can’t be a success.

Assuming the metaverse is inevitable for many spaces, every time people think of metaverse they think of meta. “Metaverse” is not only becoming almost synonymous with meta, but people will soon forget the company’s dark past

Companies like Gap Inc., Tropicana Products Inc. and the UK’s Royal Mail Service were forced to undo their rebranding after it failed.

However, if the rebrand is successful, Facebook plans to make the Metaverse an integral part of its new branding. That is, assuming the metaverse is inevitable for many spaces, every time people think of metaverse they think of meta.

“Metaverse” is not only becoming almost synonymous with meta, but people will soon forget the company’s dark past.

As Reuters quoted Zuckerberg, “This is not an investment that will pay off for us in the near future. But we basically believe that the Metaverse will be the successor to the mobile Internet. “

If or when that becomes a reality, how would social media feel?

A future of meta social media

We need to wonder how technologies like AR / VR will work when mixed with the already fragile social media. Now that we are aware of what over-reliance on social media can do to us, we need to try to predict the pitfalls of a metaverse in advance.

The Upload VR asks certain concise questions about the meta-appearance in social media.

“Would you like everyone to be able to access your Facebook profile at any time just because they saw your face?”

When social media took off in the 2000s, we were naive. We can’t say that now

“Would always-on facial recognition technology change your behavior in public?”

“Does the ability to record your perspective include the right to permanently save, analyze and share the location, actions, conversations and looks of the people you see?”

It also asks

“How do Messenger or WhatsApp exist in a world in which four people have the feeling that they are standing together for a conversation, but each is in a different physical location? Do my Instagram photos decorate my artificially reinforced walls when I share the couch with a distant friend and we watch Disney + together? What happens to the classic Facebook news feed? “

When social media took off in the 2000s, we were naive. We can’t say that now.

Meta’s virtual reality plan

Facebook has made a variety of AR / VR products and features available, such as Horizon Home, the first user interface the user sees after wearing the Quest headset will be a place where the user interacts with others can kick.

Messenger support in VR, which allows users to text friends from the headset, will be bragging about audio calling. Other announcements included games, VR exercises, and services like Slack, Dropbox, Facebook, and Instagram to run in VR as 2D panel apps in Horizon Home, all within the headset.

The company has also spoken of wrist electromyographic (EMG) input technology, which will help control future devices designed to send messages in AR without too much movement.

Facebook’s smart glasses were already a hit back in September, so their first full-fledged AR glasses, Project Nazare, will be a place to watch out for.

This will spell the rise of AR / VR

Meta’s new name could spark a new wave of products in the ecosystem as other players move in to enjoy the AR / VR pie.

For example, game company Niantic is building an AR platform that allows users to interact with the real world. The company behind Pokémon Go has acquired 6D.ai, an SF-based AR startup that creates software on smartphone cameras that quickly detects the 3D layouts of rooms around them. The company raised nearly half a billion dollars and created an AR developer platform that rivals Facebook and Apple.

if addicted #Facebook #meta pic.twitter.com/5yIQ1wdbSf

– ????? (@ haider2407) October 28, 2021

Several well-known companies have already established themselves in the AR / VR sector. In August, TikTok owner ByteDance acquired Pico, the third largest VR headset maker in the world, in the first quarter of 2021, with shipments growing 44.7% year over year, according to IDC.

In August, Apple acquired Spaces, a VR startup that started out as a DreamWorks animation project. Microsoft Teams will get avatars in AR / VR next year.

A metaworld of the lotus eater

According to Meta, the day is not far away when the Metaverse will determine a lot of our actions.

“The metaverse will eventually encompass work, entertainment, and everything in between. Like phones and laptops today, our platform needs to be flexible enough to accommodate all of these different use cases, ”the company said in a blog post.

There is a lotus eater like lull feeling that could arise when you lose yourself in the new world of meta and forget about Facebook’s data and privacy issues

There is a lotus eater like lull feeling that could arise when you lose yourself in the new world of meta and forget about Facebook’s data and privacy issues.

After what FB did to social media, should we still trust him with the metaverse? We might think it doesn’t matter right now, but that’s how social media started.

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