Skeptics argue that it may also be an attempt to shift the topic from the Facebook Papers. This leaked document trove was so dubbed by a consortium that includes The Associated Press. Many of these documents, first described by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen, have revealed how Facebook ignored or downplayed internal warnings of the negative and often harmful consequences its social network algorithms created or magnified across the world.
Zuckerberg claims that the metaverse will reach one billion people in the next decade. He says the metaverse will allow people to interact, work, and create content and products in a new environment that creates millions of jobs for creators.
Facebook is currently in an existential crisis and this announcement is timely. After revelations in the Facebook Papers, the company is under increased regulatory and legislative scrutiny around the globe.
Zuckerberg explained that the name “Facebook”, while still being a popular social network, doesn’t cover “everything” anymore. It now has Messenger, Instagram, Messenger, Messenger, Quest VR headset, Horizon VR platform, and many other social networks.
Zuckerberg stated that “Today, we are seen as social media companies.” “But in our DNA, we are a company which builds technology to connect people,” Zuckerberg said.
He said that Metaverse is the new way. Zuckerberg, a big fan of classics explained that “meta” is derived from the Greek “beyond”
The myriad problems that Facebook has been facing, as revealed in thousands of internal documents over the past weeks, won’t be solved by a corporate rebranding. It won’t make people stop calling Facebook the “social media giant” or a “social media titan.”
Zuckerberg isn’t stopping there. He seems eager to get on with the next big thing, as crisis after crisis appears at the company that he founded.
Zuckerberg, while dismissing the revelations from The Facebook Papers as unfair criticisms, has instead focused on creating a virtual environment that you can actually enter rather than just viewing on a screen.
Zuckerberg bets that the metaverse will replace desktop computers just as smartphones replaced desktop computers. Meta is Facebook’s bet on the metaverse, just as Instagram and messaging were Facebook’s attempts to get into mobile evolution. To show his seriousness, what could be better than a name-change?
