Facebook is now Meta. Just like, Alphabet was once Google. Not a big deal right? Or maybe it is. See, if we look into this as just a change in the name of the parent company then nothing is going to change for us. But, it is much more than that. If I try to put the whole thing in a simple sentence, then Mark Zuckerberg or let’s say Meta previously known as Facebook is no longer wants to be just a social media platform, but a virtual reality platform, a virtual world in itself, a world of Meta, called Metaverse. This future of tech is fascinating, and I am just super hyped up for the same. Surely, each coin has two sides and well it’s Facebook or Meta or whatever you call it, privacy concerns are real.
What is the change?
Facebook was never just a social media company, we all know it. Over 97% of the revenue of Meta is from ads. We are aware of how Facebook handles our data, umm that’s for the personalised ads. As of now, keeping many things aside for a moment, their primary focus is on two main things, one, Social Media i.e. Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger and Facebook itself of course and second, VR, or let’s call it Oculus. From 50% in 2020 to more than 75% in 2021, Oculus is leading the AR/VR market, in terms of market share. In terms of innovation too, Oculus Quest 2 is far ahead of the competition. VR is relatably a new tech and surely not many people are aware of the same, Facebook is trying to spread awareness but at the same time, the cost to use the tech is overall on a higher side.
As a tech enthusiast, VR excites me and Gen Z and millennials out there but it might not be able to reach to let’s say our parents or grandparents. Apart from gaming and entertainment, it has a lot of potential in form of health and fitness and even works. VR meeting would be better than the likes of Zooms and Google Meets, right?
Let’s back to the main question once again. So, the change is now Meta is focusing on the Metaverse. It does not mean Social Media or our favourite reels are going to disappear anytime soon. To put it into numbers for reference, till date Social Media to AR/VR ratio was around 65:35 if I’m not wrong, going forward it might be something like 30:70, that 70% focus is on AR/VR thing, Metaverse to be precise. This ratio might not be visible to us, but on the backend, (where things like Whatsapp & Instagram goes down so many times, pun intended.) they will be working hard and putting more effort to bring their universe, the Metaverse.
A change in a right direction
We accept or deny, the future is all about Mixed Reality. Looking back into history, it won’t be wrong to assume that no other brand can innovate better than Facebook when it comes to this future tech. It’s not a product or device or hardware or software, rather, it’s much more than that, it’s a system or as Facebook likes to call it, it’s a universe having all of the above components.
Even though we are seeing some sort of improvements in social media platforms, from simple plain text, we have come a long way to video calls and stickers and payments and currently trending short-form content like reels. However, more or less it feels that the social media world is now saturated. It will continue working and improving at a slow phase. Hence, the change is here, not just in the name but in the mindset of the brand as well.
Looking forward to what Meta will bring to the table, or our eyes!
