The Future of Metaverse

Meta has recently announced that they will be hiring 10,000 people, prioritising highly specialised engineers, to build the Metaverse that will leverage AR and VR to advance “virtual presence”.

The move signifies a grand shift in its business strategy for the future, with consideration that Europe’s stance towards data triumphs others like the States’ and China’s (see Europe’s data protection law GDPR).

Understanding what the Metaverse could enable would be helpful in understanding Facebook’s massive investment in engineering talent and research.

Over the years, the Metaverse has been discussed by many to mean different things. These interpretations are brilliantly summarised in Episode 1 of Cathy Hackl’s Metaverse Marketing Podcast.

At the core of it, the Metaverse champions decentralisation, and interoperability. It is a single universe that would be shared by all, encouraging individuals and organisations to collaborate and cooperate together across industries. In this world, openness and community ownership would be its defining characteristics. (Note: Fortnite ! = Metaverse)

The creation of this world has also been fondly known by some as a venture into Web 3.0, an advancement from where we are currently at – Web 2.0, in which data centralisation and targeted advertising are commonplace. In comparison, Web 3.0 would be supported by technologies, such as distributed ledgers and blockchain systems, that enable transparency and collaboration amongst parties.

With such ideals seeming closer to reality each year and the balance between user interests and exploitative advertising seeming increasingly unsustainable, it is no wonder that Facebook hopes to establish itself as an early sculptor and adopter of this new world, where business opportunities, platforms and regulations have yet to be explored.

How do you think other giant corporations like Google and Amazon might be navigating this space?