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FOR THE first time in 17 years, Mark Zuckerberg has a new job. On Thursday (10/28) local time, he officially became CEO and Chairman of Meta, the name of the new parent company for Facebook. Facebook has officially shifted focus to the ‘metaverse’ and the social media giant’s stock trading will begin trading under the code MVRS from December 1, 2021.
Citing The Verge on Friday (10/29), Zuckerberg insists he remains in control of everything. The name change is unlike the events when Google’s founders stepped down in 2015 to become part of a parent company called Alphabet. Zuckerberg has no plans to relinquish the helm.
Zuckerberg has poured billions of dollars, at least US$10 billion this year alone into building the metaverse, a vast and immersive vision of the internet drawn from the pages of the science fiction novels Snow Crash and Ready Player One.
“I think we’re basically moving from being Facebook as the first metaverse company,” he told The Verge.
Later, a unified account system will be introduced to reach all enterprise social apps, Oculus Quest headsets, Portals, and future devices. That means users don’t need a Facebook account to use Quest.
The name change to Meta, announced by Zuckerberg on Thursday local time during the company’s annual Connect conference. This rebranding has been a secret affair since he officially started the project more than six months ago.
The small number of employees involved must sign nondisclosure agreements. Zuckerberg said he had thought about a rebrand since the company acquired Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, but earlier this year he realized it was time for a change.
Metaverse as an idea is not new. The concept comes from Snow Crash, a dystopian novel from the 1990s in which people escape the collapsing real world to be completely immersed in the virtual world.
While he admits that the origin of the word is “con,” Zuckerberg is trying to reclaim the metaverse as a utopian idea that would open up an entirely new economy of virtual goods and services.
In the next decade, he thinks most people will spend time in a 3D version of the internet that includes not only Meta hardware like Quest, but tools made by others as well. Zuckerberg is pushing his team to build technology that could one day have users appear in virtual spaces as full-bodied avatars, or appear as holograms in real-world living rooms.
When asked by The Verge if he would remain CEO at Facebook in the next 5 years, this was his response: “Probably. I don’t have a specific date for how long I’d like to do this. I guess what I can say is I’m really excited about this chapter next to what we do.”
Citing CNN International, Zuckerberg staged an event to introduce a major product that teased a series of new social, game, and workplace concepts for the metaverse. [sources/photo special]
