I believe that most of you have seen this or read about this – Facebook has renamed its parent company to “Meta”. And I guess we are also almost all on the same page in thinking that Facebook has done this because “Facebook” is a very negatively biased naming. But let’s face it: This won’t work. We will all remember that Meta is Facebook – if you wanted to change the bias, you should actually change what causes the damage and not “move on”.
Anyway. I was thinking about what he said, what Microsoft said but also reading and seeing the reactions. Here is my take:
The Metaverse
Mark is claiming that he is doing this because he believes that the Metaverse is the future; the future or new Internet, the next big thing. It is more than just virtual reality, it is a new “space” you live in, breath in and act like in real life: “Meta’s focus will be to bring the Metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.” And I get why Mark is doing this when I see the FB numbers – he needs to quickly find a new revenue machine. And maybe this will work out (I doubt it though given the past of FB and the scrutiny around FB). Is it truly new?But is that really a new thing? the Metaverse (ok, I don’t mean where it originally comes from…check this out if you don’t know)? It is not and I believe we can see some current incarnations being pretty successful. I am not the only one who is thinking of Fortnite for example. Fortnite is already pretty close (given todays technological possibilities) to the Metaverse you could argue, and when you then have a look at statistics, this makes even more sense:
- 350 Million registered users (May 2020)
- 25 Million daily active users
- Of that 77% spend money within Fortnite – on average just more than $100
So, there could be something to it – the Metaverse. Or is Fortnite a very successful game and that is all it is? I think it can be argued either way. However, what is clear is that Fortnite is purely about entertainment. Mark though sees the Metaverse as more than just a game – and even Satya and Microsoft are claiming that the Metaverse is the future. But for them it is the future of work. Check out the announcements from Microsoft Ignite about Mesh. I have to admit that I did not try it yet, but I doubt that this will be a game changer – at least for the foreseeable future.
Get back to reality
Let’s step out of the Metaverse and into today’s reality: We are still in a new and very different “normal” thanks to our global pandemic. And in this reality we are meeting more colleagues in zoom or Teams than in real life. These capabilities really made the difference and enabled us to continue to work as productive as before (at least in desk-based jobs). But also, who of you isn’t “zoom-ed out”? Feels tired and exhausted by all these zoom calls and non-face2face interactions? It has been already diagnosed as an official stressor and psychological state (you can read more here). I doubt though we will be able to escape this soon. – and this is where allegedly the Metaverse should help us out? I am even sceptical about that.
Let’s cut to it: The Metaverse is a mixed or virtual reality, it does not transport you into a new space like the famous holo-deck on Star Trek. You will still be sitting at home at your desk, not moving (or at least not much as your space is constraint), and not only wearing a headset but also a VR headset. For those of you that have tried this, you know that it is a great experience and you can have fun – but then think of how long you use it for gaming or work-out vs. how long you would use it for work… these things are heavy and cut you out of your surroundings, isolate you – without immersing you like into a real F2F meeting. I don’t think this is any better than being “zoom-ed out”. Technology has to make a significant leap to really have an immersive experience without all the negative aspects that constrain remote collaboration today.
We had already a failed incarnation – Second Life
Some of you might even remember Second Life – I would say that this was truly a first attempt at the Metaverse – and where is it now? It was a huge hype and many companies invested heavily in it – to lose it all. It wasn’t more than a nice gimmick or a game. For business, it was not the game changer it was hyped as – and I don’t believe Microsoft’s or Meta’s idea of the Metaverse will be any different. But let’s see how it will actually come to the market – there is often a discrepancy between what was announced and how the product actually will materialize (and when). However, there is also always the question: What is it here to solve? Any technology should be a solution not a hype. At this stage I don’t see any problem the Metaverse is solving – at least not at work.For Mark though, the Metaverse might work out better as I don’t believe he focuses on work, but more on gaming and social networking. He just needs to fix all the negative impacts that his social networks create, manifest, amplify – oh wait, he has done that by renaming Facebook, right?
Chief HR Officer 