During Facebook’s Connect 2021 event on October 28, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will now be called Meta. Zuckerberg also announced that the company would focus on a “Metaverse”, a virtual world that will become a successor to mobile Internet.
Facebook and its subsidiaries, including Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, would remain as it is, but under the Meta umbrella. The rebranding of Facebook emerged amid pressure over the social media giant after a whistleblower leaked internal research documents alleging that Facebook ignores hate speech for profit.
Digital worlds, where the users can connect and interact in a “metaverse”, would be the future of technology, Zuckerberg noted.
“If we all work at it, and within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers,” Zuckerberg said.
The company has also announced a series of software tools that include technology to allow people to control programs with their voices or hands during the event. Facebook would also be bringing more hardware offerings. “This is the next chapter of our work, and we believe, for the internet overall,” Zuckerberg said during the event last night.
Zuckerberg even specified his plans for a Horizon marketplace and a broader multiverse economy that can support a range of experiences through AR, VR, and other gadgets like smartphones or laptops.
The metaverse is expected to be the successor to mobile Internet and explained that Horizon has a home section where people can build their own virtual home space and workrooms. Horizon Workrooms were first announced in August as the company’s tool for joining meetings and events as an avatar in VR.
Apart from the metaverse and the new name for Facebook, the Facebook Connect 2021 event has made some significant announcements on the hardware and software front. Zuckerberg indicated that the company’s next-generation virtual reality headset might be named Cambria. According to the company, Cambria will bring a screen close to your eyes to give a closer feeling of being inside a virtual world. The “Meta” Cambria headset is also said to detect the emotion in a wearer’s face.
Facebook also announced new apps coming from various partners during its Facebook Connect 2021 event. Facebook has partnered with Rockstar Games to bring once-favourite Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to Oculus Quest 2 in VR. The company also announced that it is expanding its smart glasses research into cars with BMW.
