Facebook has been on a mission to create a social media network that lives outside the walls of your home. Now, it seems like Facebook is building a platform for the world to come together. Well, that sounds pretty nice, but what is the Facebook Metaverse? Is it a virtual world like Second Life? Is it a virtual reality implementation? Let’s take a look at the concept in greater detail.
What is Metaverse Techology?
Metaverse is a term that comes from the Greek word "meta", meaning "beyond", "over" or "across". It means to go beyond what you are used to, to look at something from a different perspective. Think of the Metaverse as a virtual environment where you can go instead of just looking at it on a screen. It's a way of experiencing the world beyond the physical limitations of your body.
Metaverse is a world of endless, interconnected virtual communities where people can meet, work, and play, using VR headsets, AR glasses, apps, or other devices. It's a virtual universe where users can interact with each other and their environment as avatars. Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, describes the metaverse as a place where rather instead of simply viewing content, "you are in it".
Certainly, we live in a virtually connected world already, but we have never experienced it fully. Metaverse is the next step in the evolution of the human experience. It's the future of everything we know.
The main goal of the Metaverse is to create a world that is not bound to any physical location. In other words, you can be anywhere, anytime, and interact with anyone in this world.
Read More: Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be “a metaverse company” within 5 years
What is the Facebook Metaverse?
Four years ago, Mark Zuckerberg outlined a vision for new technology that would allow people to take virtual holidays with relatives who lived overseas and a space where people from across the world could socialise. In other words, the Facebook Metaverse. Fast forward to last week, Facebook has made an announcement that it will be soon hiring thousands of engineers in Europe to build the envisaged Facebook Metaverse.
Facebook’s launch of a virtual reality world called Facebook Horizon in 2019 was the company's first foray into the world of virtual reality. And, in August this year, the company rolled out Horizon Workroom. It's a feature where co-workers wearing VR headsets can hold meetings in a virtual room where they all appear as cartoonish 3D versions of themselves. In recent years, the company has also made major investments in Oculus VR. It all suggests that Facebook has been working on this project for a long and is one step closer to making it a reality.
Facebook describes the metaverse as a “set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who are not in the same physical space as you.” It allows us to do things like going to a virtual concert, taking a trip online, and buying and trying on digital clothing, etc.
Facebook is not alone in this race to create a virtual reality world. Other giants like Epic Games and the game platform Roblox are also taking a leading role to build their own virtual reality worlds.
Read More: Jack Dorsey slams Facebook metaverse as a “dystopian corporate dictatorship”