The Big Question 

User’s and marketers alike all have the same obvious and burning question for Mark Zuckerberg. Why change a platform that has become a social media giant and something people look to use every day? The answer isn’t simple neither because many people have their theories against Mark’s words. 

Further on into this, I’ll explain what you can expect from the Meta platform because it’s a lot more than just a name change. However, Social media fanatics refuse to believe that Meta is for a better future and that Meta is just a cover-up for all the sketchy and sinister things that’s happened under the Facebook name. 

Given the level of some scandals over the years, it comes as no surprise that the Facebook name is getting buried under a glorious and spectacular new platform that has a wow factor capable of making bad things fade away. 

What Does Meta Mean? 

The usage of the term “meta” has grown in popularity since the ’80s. It comes from the Greek word μετά, meaning “after” or “beyond”. However, its early use in the English language translates to “beyond, about”, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary. Zuckerberg believes that the term “symbolises that there’s always more to build”. 

Step Into the Metaverse 

So, what is it? If you have watched Ready Player One or Free Guy before, you know what it looks like to exist inside a virtual world. It’s not a million miles off being either of those movies made into reality. Anyway, Zuckerberg’s mission is to create a virtual world that brings everything together as one. It’s not like the virtual reality we’re used to because the metaverse is even closer to real life. In some way, it looks terrifying. 

The metaverse is going to change our lives and potentially society as we know it. Social media has overwhelmed us over the years, and Meta is likely to consume us in a nonmetaphorical sense. Instead of viewing content by looking at a screen, you are inside the platform. The technology is advancing to make the experience feel almost parallel to the real world, except that the metaverse promises more than what’s available to you in the real world. 

For example, you will be able to live out your biggest dreams and fantasies inside of the platform and feel like you’re living it. 

What’s Good About It? 

In the metaverse, you can be who you want to be, do the things you want to do and be anywhere you desire. Many people worldwide will benefit from Meta due to its ability to enable their life experiences to be lived out from the comfort of their own home. The metaverse will remove constraints of being someone you aren’t comfortable being. People with mobility issues and insecurities will benefit the most since the platform will enable them to live out a life that feels like those limitations are gone. 

The platform will be incredibly uplifting for many because of the freedom it promises. Why Google something when Meta makes it possible to look at something and learn about it there and then. Imagine an experience where you feel like you’re standing on the seabed and looking at different Fish to learn about them or walking with Dinosaurs; Meta makes these things possible. 

As more people convert to Meta, our impact on the environment will drop significantly due to the lack of travel and manufacturing. If people can teleport to where they need or want to be inside the metaverse there won’t be any need to travel, unless they fancy a nice long drive in the real world. 

Meta will also see a completely new economy come into play because anyone can be a seller in the metaverse. NFT art pieces are close to what will be available within the metaverse because an NFT is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger. In simple terms, it’s a digital asset that exists only in the digital universe. However, with Meta, we will be inside the digital universe, and digitally created items with data value will be accessible to us at what feels like hands reach, therefore creating a new economy inside a virtual world.  

What’s Bad About It? 

There are many positive aspects of the metaverse, but a lot of this still sounds quite scary, so you need to be aware of the negatives. The collection of our user data and how safe it may be is a top concern for me because of Facebook’s poor handling of data in the past. The controversial data breaches and people’s data getting sold on does not inspire confidence. 

Facebook changes the way we feel about our data, and now the metaverse is coming, we need to find a whole new level of trust. On Facebook, we share images, video’s, posts and more but with the metaverse, we will be a virtual edition of ourselves, and our actual actions and thoughts will become data. 

The big fear for most is dissociation from reality. There will be hundreds of companies creating thousands of different experiences for us to live out in the metaverse, with the intention that it feels like real life. At what point do we then decide to come back into the real world? If the metaverse consumes us then, we probably wouldn’t, and that’s the problem. 

Facebook has a large team of moderators that scan Facebook for user content against guidelines, reported posts and more negative content. The issue for the metaverse is that moderating content isn’t what it is on Facebook because you can’t moderately police a virtual world. The moderating will become dramatically invasive for users by observing your avatar for specific details, and don’t forget that your avatar is you, but in a virtual world. 

The metaverse can’t be a completely new life for us. Yes, it might be immersive, but we still need to eat, drink and sleep in the real world. The metaverse has the potential to make our real lives feel meaningless. I mean, why would you prefer your real world if you can put on a headset and feel like you’re back to living out your dreams?  

That’s all from me, see you in the metaverse! 

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