Looking forward to the next big shift in digital connectivity, Facebook has created a new suite of Metaverse products, focused on building the broader trend of the platform in the evolving space, including content creator tools, virtual frameworks, advanced social features, and more.
Facebook Labs has been focused on building products that provide presence across digital spaces for years. Today's Portal and Oculus devices can take you into a room with another person, regardless of physical distance, or to new virtual worlds and experiences.
But to achieve Facebook's full vision of metaverse, it also needs to build the connective tissue between these spaces. This is so you can remove the constraints of physics and move between them as easily as moving from one room in your house to another.
The new project group is working to establish key parameters in what is now a major focus of the social network. As the company looks to the next stage of digital connectivity, the Metaverse concept is set to play a major role, as the platform looks to facilitate whole new forms of online interaction based on your digital self.
In a fundamental sense, Metaverse is a virtual world where your digital character can exist and interact, in a variety of ways, in an entirely new space. Various versions have been developed over time, including projects such as Second Life and VR Space. But Metaverse is a more comprehensive version of the same, where you can feel like you're present with others in a broader digital space.
Facebook Focuses on Metaverse
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained the importance of Metaverse in the company's plans last week. Metaverse is an industry-wide vision. You can think of it as a successor to the mobile internet. It's not something any company builds and we hope to build that in partnership with lots of other companies, creators, and developers.
Zuckerberg noted that over the next five years, he expects Facebook to evolve into a metaverse company, with the digital world set to integrate all of Facebook's different tools and platforms into a broader and more comprehensive experience.
This may also raise a level of concern, given the significant power the company has over our daily lives and our input. But that is Zuckerberg's vision, and this new project group is tasked with developing and progressing to the next stage.