I’m not quite sure whether to laugh or cry, last night we witnessed the launch of “Meta” the new umbrella company for Instagram, Whatsapp, Oculus and friends, and that old company we used to know from that Social Network film “Facebook”. I guess with the heat being turned up in the billionaire kitchen recently, another Blue Origin customer Launch and a recent Hertz order, a marker needed to be put down by the once darling young entrepreneur.
“Whether you like it or not, Facebook as a standalone product is on its way out”
Zuck’s classical meme a minute wooden performance (in his equally wooden chalet) gave us an insight into the future of his vision for the Metaverse and it’s safe to say he’s gone all in on his virtual chips on this one. You can see the logic, Facebook Share price is facing the wrong direction and the company has been taking some heavy friendly fire recently both from within and outside of the company. #deleteFacebook is a not so irregular trend these days on the timelines of its old rival and when was the last time you really saw a busy FB timeline of genuine updates from your friends rather than adverts for that BBQ you don’t need. Whether you like it or not, Facebook as a standalone product is on its way out, its not that its features aren’t relevant, it’s just not (and hasn’t been for some time) best in class.
This keynote wasn’t your typical, “one more thing” scenario, Zuck didn’t sell us anything, nothing really yet exists, he leapfrogged all of that fanfare to push an idea, an approach that he will take under the new Meta Medium (full marks for anyone who noticed the ironic “the reality of what you may see in this keynote may be somewhat different” disclaimer at the very beginning). He and his team took us through a whirlwind tour with references to all the hot tech buzzwords of the last 3 years, NFT’s & Blockchain, Social, Environment, Remote, AI, VR were all themes of the examples put forward. It started promising, showing examples in the Games & Work spaces, where all jokes aside there’s definitely some exciting things coming. Game of chess with your Grandpa, sitting around a table of people for a meeting and seeing more than just an image or a flat face, these are all great advancements and I already look forward to crying “Check Mate!” at my grandkids. There’s also some great cameos, with some top British icons, Sir David Attenborough pops up briefly to give us all that big virtual slap in the face we all need to focus on our care for environment. And not so popular politician Nick Clegg (yeah, remember that guy) who I later found out is FB’s VP of Global Affairs, also makes an appearance plugging “Privacy & Safety”, cheers Nick, thanks for coming 👍
Whilst the pro’s (yes there are pro’s) are obvious. For myself (possibly now at 32, an old dinosaur) there are some quite scary con’s. Firstly the language used, Debs on gaming “i’m moving to the metaverse” & Zuck even signs off his Avatar section “you’re not always going to want to look like yourself”. Well why the hell not? The impacts to our mental health and wellbeing as a result of using those widely dubbed “limited interface” digital devices we use today is well documented. They push us to all to strive to look the same, better each other, live our best lives and look unblemished. In many ways a part of us already exists virtually, but what happens when that fully becomes us?
“Maybe in real life i’ll put on 100 pounds cause hey, my virtual self has washboard abs.”
Don’t get me wrong the tech is impressive, the whole presentation gave me the same feels of when the Wii launched (yes it was awesome) in 2006, that sh*t was cray and this is definitely cray cray. I can see adoption starting in schools around the world, getting the grants to buy into this virtual world to “enhance learning” and “enrich children’s lives with deeper engagement”, but where that great playground insult “get a life” actually becomes a possibility, i’m not sure how game I am for my kids to be in the mix for that. I can easily see developers too (partly because this was a regular keynote push), jumping on the bandwagon much like the apple app store launch in 2008 to create a market place of games, utilities and productivity type experiences. From a business model perspective this is where Meta aims to appeal to the shareholder, “look at this whole new market of empty space we’ve just invented and we’re the first to do it!”. Given the speed in which tech has been adopted in the last 10 years, who’s to say that this wont be a goer, it certainly gives investment analysts a different future to consider.
But for consumers, just how deep does the rabbit hole go, no one really knows. Will there be a tipping point where we completely forget ourselves, where our real self and surroundings simply don’t matter. Maybe in real life i’ll put on 100 pounds cause hey, my virtual self has washboard abs. Maybe I wont strive to push myself, cause my virtual life is doing just great. The greatest challenge, as it has been for the last 10 years where technology has exponentially encroached in our lives, is for human beings to establish their own discipline, to understand the boundaries of where we stop and tech starts. This will become more so as the current binary terms of Virtual & Reality become combined and more accessible as Meta aims to achieve. This discipline can only come through education & standards, not the organic nature in which tech has been allowed to flourish thus far, appealing to our human impulses for betterment or materialism to which most of us have been guilty. Look at this new shiny phone with its faster speeds, wait look at this even shiner phone with even faster speeds many of us have been there. We educate on sex, managing money, languages, economics but what about the role of tech in society, what it does for us both the good and the bad. I for one love tech, in my job I build software everyday and I love a new product, but when we talk about experiences that are so immersive, there comes a responsibility to identify and understand how it benefits us, not that it suddenly is us.
Meta is better?? Maybe…but it’s safe to say there’s a recurring mantra amongst the Billionaire club, “stop world I want to get off”.
Jeff’s Blue Origin – do it more frequently for a quick fix 10 minute buzz.
Elon’s Space X – make it permanent.
Mark’s Meta – bury our heads in the sand whilst the world around us crumbles.
“Feel present with the people we care about” I agree Mark, but let’s not forget reality.
