Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that he wants Facebook to become a metaverse company, but the metaverse doesn’t exactly exist just yet.
The metaverse refers to a combination of augmented and virtual reality, and has been referred to as an environment that exists beyond the Internet. Other companies have attempted this type of immersive experience, such as Google with its Google Glass project that inevitably failed.
However, this technology is still far from reality, even with Facebook’s ownership of Oculus. Since acquiring the VR company, Facebook has continued to tease its venture into the technological universe.
In recent months, the company has ramped up its public discussions about the metaverse, and even recently announced a new grants program that will help minority groups lead the journey to defining the metaverse.
“[In] the last 10 years we’ve seen that sometimes the public and regulators are surprised by the technological change, and that’s not healthy for anybody,” said Andrew Bosworth, VP of Facebook Reality Labs. “So we’re trying to have this conversation out in the open well in advance of this technology ever being delivered in any integrated form.”
While some have insinuated that this public discussion is serving as a distraction from other controversies the social media giant has faced, it’s clear that the company is attempting to bolster itself as the leader in the metaverse.
