Though Facebook changed its name to Meta, mobile applications like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp will remain the same. The company is reforming itself into a 3-D version for the journey into the metaverse, the future of the internet.
In an announcement before a Facebook “Connect” audience, Mark Zuckerberg said he was not trying to shift focus from the controversies.
Complete details on Meta Facebook Website
He merely wanted his company’s name to reflect its many interests and its grand vision to create a metaverse through which a billion people can become avatars and virtually engage with each other.
Facebook's metamorphosis – will it work? https://t.co/ho0rdYY25s
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 30, 2021
How and when will metaverse happen
Meta already owns the maker of the virtual reality headset Oculus. But the metaverse is still in progress and will come into usage in ten to fifteen years.
Meta is going to spend billions of dollars to bring it to life. Recently, in the European Union company had announced hiring 10,000 people for work on the project. This metaverse will be the work of more than one company. Open standards and interoperability is needed to be a part of it.
The firm had launched the experimental versions of two metaverse projects last year: Horizon World and Horizon Workrooms. Horizon World lets friends meet virtually, and Horizon Workrooms enables them to attend virtual work meetings.
Safety and Privacy
After all the data leaks and other accusations made at Facebook, people doubt facebook for safety and data privacy.
Facebook responded that it has no commercial incentives to do. It only wants to give the maximum experiences to the maximum number of people as much as possible.
The Guardian also suggested that some advertisers target ads based on “your body language, your physiological responses, knowing who you interact with and how.”
The Guardian view on regulating social media: necessary but risky | Editorial https://t.co/jjpYUkKHCY
— Guardian Tech (@guardiantech) October 29, 2021
Mike Proulx, research director at research company Forrester, said that the metaverse wouldn’t fix Facebook.
The Whistleblower Frances Haugen told the BBC that “repeatedly, we see Facebook prioritizing expansion and growth.”
She felt that these resources could be better used to improve the safety of Facebook. Facebook is full of posts and videos which often anger people. She said that Facebook optimized and put its benefits above its users, harming the children and teenagers far more than everyone else as they can be angered easily.
To start, we must demand:
1) Privacy-concious mandatory transparency from Facebook
2) A reckoning wih the dangers of engagement-based ranking
3) Non-content-based solutions to these problems — we need tools other than censorship to keep the world safe. (3/3)
— Frances Haugen (@FrancesHaugen) October 25, 2021