Unless you've been living under a rock for a couple of years or so, you sure know there is a huge trend in the blockchain industry toward creating a virtual world or so-called metaverse
And like many things in crypto, the metaverse is still in its early infancy, which makes it quite attractive for most companies drooling to ride the wave before anyone else and get the most out of it. For them, getting into the metaverse industry now would be just like stacking Bitcoin in 2009 for a few cents or even less...
The big elephant in the room here is no other than the social giant Facebook, which has gone big into the metaverse, so much so that it rebranded itself to "Meta", though most people still call it Facebook.
According to Mark Zuckerberg:
We’re seen as a social media company, but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier.”
However, it seems that way to control the metaverse will not be as easy as controlling the social media sector as it was revealed that Facebook lost $2.8 billion on its virtual reality ambitions during Q2 this year only.
The biggest hitch here is that Facebook/Meta is desperately trying to conquer an area that isn't well recognized by ordinary people, not to mention that even most metaverse developers fail to explain its real-world use cases. If you're looking for an example, then who is better than Ethereum creator Vitalik Butaren who tweeted a few days ago:
My critique is deeper than "Metaverse Wikipedia will beat Metaverse Encyclopedia Britannica". It's that we don't really know the definition of "the metaverse" yet, it's far too early to know what people actually want. So anything Facebook creates now will misfire.
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Adding fuel to the fire, Facebook seems to be having a hard time dealing with regulators and law entities as well. Just a few days ago, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Meta in federal court Wednesday in an attempt to block the company’s acquisition of virtual reality app creator "Within". In its defense, FTC justified its move by arguing that Meta would have a monopoly in the metaverse market would stifle rival development and suppress creation and innovation
“Instead of competing on the merits, Meta is trying to buy its way to the top,” FTC Bureau of Competition Deputy Director John Newman.
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I don't know about you guys, but this is the first time I feel I'm in accord with regulators because I really think that allowing Facebook to dominate the metaverse is more than a bad idea. Let's look at the social media industry, where it's quite easy to notice that it is controlled and dominated by a few huge corporations that could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Facebook certainly is one (if not the biggest) of them. It even went further to swallow its rivals such as Instagram and WhatsApp by acquiring them on multiple occasions. That way Facebook managed to get the lion's share of the social media industry. And it still sits on its throne, despite the rise of the likes of TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter...
Now, it seems that Facebook/Meta is just trying to do the same with the metaverse industry. Basically, getting into it as early as possible, stifling any potential rivals, and leading well-publicized campaigns. To top it all off, Facebook has a horrible history regarding to privacy and user data which makes the idea of leaving it to acquire another sector like metaverse unappealing to anyone with half a brain!
What do you think guys about Facebook and its saga to pivot to the metaverse?
I'm keen to read your opinions and thoughts...
PS, Unless otherwise stated, all images in this post are either my own design or from free photo-sharing sites (e.g. pixabay.com)