Facebook recently announced changing its name to “Meta”, and it later emerged that the new name chosen by the social networking giant was inspired by the term “Metaverse”, which experts consider to be an expression of the future of social networking sites, or rather the future of the Internet in general.
Below we review everything you need to know about “Metaverse” and how it will transform the world of the Internet, and whether there are fears of billions of people entering this new world.
What does the term metaverse mean and its beginnings?
The term metaverse first appeared in the sci-fi novel Snow Crash, written by writer Neil Stephenson in 1992, and its events revolve around the interaction of humans, through a virtual likeness (avatar), and these interactions and interactions embrace a three-dimensional virtual space supported by augmented reality technologies, in a similar way to Pretty much the real world, Newsweek reported.
Some novels and science fiction films later dealt with other terms and concepts similar to the worlds of virtual reality, until Facebook, with its new name in 2021, brought to mind this old dream, but today, with the tremendous progress in this field, it is within the reach of Internet users.
What is metaverse technology?
Metaverse is defined as a series of virtual worlds that includes endless interactions between users through each user’s avatar, which may not be limited to gaming and entertainment only, but this technology will also allow many interactions for business.
Metaverse aims to take virtual reality technologies to unprecedented levels, and although Mark Zuckerberg is the one who recently announced the entry into this new world, the company “Meta” or previously Facebook will not be able alone to take care of all the developments required in this field, as it Not only is there a wide scope for development, but it is also unpredictable at its limits, which will require the participation of all companies operating in this industry, which Zuckerberg himself confirmed, in a speech directed to users.
Indeed, many companies, such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, have tried to develop their activity in the field of the virtual world, but Facebook took the lead in declaring this interest to the public and even choosing for itself a new name derived from this term, which reflects the main direction of the company during the coming years, according to the “gadgets” website. “.
To bring the idea of “Metaverse” to mind, Zuckerberg said that it is like turning the Internet into a three-dimensional environment, not only for the user to look at it in front of his screen, but to enter this environment by himself until he becomes one of its elements, and his senses are separated from his real world during his stay in the virtual world.
The user enters this world to find himself within a series of interconnected and endless virtual communities, through which he can meet a large number of people who can deal with them either to work or play, all he needs for that are virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, and related smart phone applications. .
Taking advantage of Metaverse will not be limited to playing games or even holding business meetings by default, but all the activities of the Internet user will be affected in this world, for example, e-shopping will witness a qualitative leap within this world, where the user will be able to preview anything he wants to buy on the Internet. Close up rather than just preview images in the traditional look now known to online stores, Victoria Petrok, an expert on tech startups, told npr.
With the development of the worlds of Metaverse, every human activity in the real world will become available in all its details in the virtual world, which means that the person may be able to stay in the virtual world for longer periods, either relaxing in his virtual home or playing a game or sports with friends from different countries. around the world, hold virtual meetings, or shop for groceries on the other side of the planet.
How to enter the worlds of metaverse
Facebook (currently dead) has launched an application for virtual meetings for companies, called Horizon Workrooms, that its users need for virtual reality glasses Oculus VR, and so far these glasses have not received full satisfaction from users, as well as their high price of $ 300 or more, which makes most experiences Sophisticated metaverses are out of reach of many, especially in developing countries.
As for those who can afford to buy virtual reality glasses, they will only need to choose the virtual likeness of “Avatar”, to become his representative in this new world, and he can then move between those virtual worlds created by different companies. “The Metaverse experience will be about the incredible ability to teleport from one world to another,” Zuckerberg says.
A large part of the expected success of Metaverse worlds depends on the ability of technology companies to cooperate with each other to link their online platforms to each other in this unified entity, and Petroc sees that the cooperation of these companies requires that they agree among themselves on a set of unified standards, which means that there will be no Facebook Metaverse users and not Microsoft Metaverse users, only Metaverse users as a unified entity.
Risks and Fears of Metaverse
Over the years, Facebook has faced accusations of privacy breaches, leaking user data, and exploiting it to make profits.
The basic idea of Metaverse is to liberate and mix cultures through an easy and fast interaction between the inhabitants of different continents, which means greater ease for ordinary users to view more data for other users. Virtual, which simulates reality, is available to everyone.
It can be imagined how a user can easily reveal his interests to those around him, between artistic, sports or shopping interests, as well as his personal interactions and perhaps his daily decisions, starting from choosing a specific playlist of songs and even making decisions about making a family.
“It’s true that we want to navigate the Internet easily, but we also want it to happen in a way that can’t be tracked and monitored,” says entrepreneur Steve Jang, managing partner at startup Kindred Ventures.
From the above, it is possible to feel concern about the intentions of the Facebook founder behind his enthusiasm to enter the world of Metaverse, especially since the accusations against him of using personal data to sell targeted ads through Facebook still exist.
“Ads will continue to be an important part of the social media strategy for what we do, and potentially a useful part of Metaverse as well,” Zuckerberg said on a recent earnings call.
Petroc expressed concern about Facebook’s attempt to carve out a path to a virtual world that may require more personal data and allow greater potential for misuse and misinformation in light of the company’s failure to seek to fix these problems on its current platform.
It remains for the coming days to reveal what awaits the world of technology, when Metaverse becomes accessible to everyone, overcoming the obstacles to its spread. The problem of the high price of virtual world glasses may not last long if companies that offer them at lower prices appear in order to profit from the huge sales that will then include billions of people .