Today Facebook changed their corporate name to Meta (“Meta Platforms Inc”). Sounds like the Facebook app will keep its name.
But Meta is the new overarching name Facebook falls under.
Keep in mind, Meta’s vision is “Helping people get connected, anytime, anywhere.”
What is the Metaverse?
Think of it like the web but in 3D.
A web page is 2D, you can move up or down, left or right, zoom in and out. A web page also has an address (a “URL”).
The Metaverse ads that third dimension.
Think of a URL in the Metaverse sort of like a room. Or even a world. And it follows there could be a limitless number of these.
And you’d put on a VR helmet, or glasses, or whatever, even your phone or PC, to immerse yourself in a 3D place. And interact with other people. And just do… whatever.
How’s it going to work?
Mark Zuckerberg said during this keynote, hundreds of thousands of people are going to be needed to help build the Metaverse. To build all the “things” that eventually will make up the Metaverse.
And that means people need to be able to make a good living doing it.
Sounds like a new economy?
Who exactly are the folks building the Metaverse?
Coders, who else? 😉
It won’t be just Facebook employees.
To me it sounds like there is a standard in the works, sort of like how HTML is a standard for the web. But there will be a standard for the Metaverse.
A set of building blocks to do things like identify a location, rules for interacting with people, objects, ways for communication emotions to others; it could get pretty deep.
And that means anyone, third parties, or whoever has the time to build with it will be able to.
What’s the killer app in the Metaverse?
Right now gaming seems to be the obvious candidate. It’s the largest entertainment industry by far. And there are already a few VR games on the market.
But there are other areas too: social, fitness, work – porn? That last one I bet is going to be a hit.
Reaching Scale
In the next decade, Mark told us in his keynote, billions of people could be using the Metaverse.
They plan to grow the developer community by keeping fees low and supporting creators and businesses.
Building a business in the Metaverse
It sounds like there will be “creators” who make objects, offer services, even create entire worlds.
Selling physical and digital goods.
Maybe even digital real estate becomes a thing?
“A ton we just don’t know yet” – Mark
Let’s see what the future holds. My guess is over the next few years and decades there will be some really wild and crazy ways the Metaverse will come to life.
There just isn’t a way to predict exactly what will come to life.
But it does sound like an interesting opportunity. Especially for coders! 🙂
Mike is the creator of Go With Code and a coder at heart 🙂