What is the metaverse and will it replace social media?
Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2025 4:03 am
Technologies predicted decades ago are becoming a reality, but neither gamers nor businesses have asked for a revolution yet. What is the metaverse and will it become part of our lives in the same way that social networks have?
Metaverse - what is it?
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his vision for the “metasense” in July of this year. He envisions the future of social interactions as a three-dimensional digital environment where users’ virtual avatars interact. The company recently took its first step toward the metasense, a collaboration app that allows meetings to take place in virtual reality.
Where did the idea of a metaverse originally come from?
The idea of transferring games from virtual reality to ordinary canada number data life has been around for years. For example, to solve quests, thousands of people around the world join together in groups and solve complex tasks: players find some of the information on the Internet, and some on the streets of cities.
In the early 2000s, the first projects appeared that allowed anyone to immerse themselves in a virtual world. Second Life, released in 2003, was a kind of social network or virtual chat room. It had no central plot - players united in clubs based on interests and simulated real life.
Video player
00:00
02:40
In 2021, the game still has several hundred thousand players, and the developers continue to add content.
The developers of the first virtual reality games called them “digital countries.” Due to technical limitations, such projects cannot generate content on the scale that social networks and new games can now do.
In 2019, American DJ Marshmello held a virtual concert in Fortnite. In the three years since its launch, the shooter has become not only a competitive game, but also a center of virtual entertainment. During the pandemic, several other famous pop and rap artists have given concerts in the game from Epic Games.
Since 2020, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has been talking about the idea of unifying all accounts in each ecosystem: those who want to will link their Facebook, Twitter, Fortnite, and Call Of Duty accounts, and the projects will unite as a single digital space with its own rules and economy.
In April 2021, the company raised $1 billion to develop its metaverse. Sweeney said that much of the money will go towards improving social services and developing new features. Hundreds of millions of dollars will also be invested in the development of the Unreal Engine, which will be used to create new VR and AR projects.
How and what technologies will the metaverse work?
Virtual reality (VR) is a completely fictional world created using current technology. The simplest example is computer games.
Augmented Reality (AR) is the introduction of any technology on top of the current reality using applications or devices. Applications that instantly translate text when you point the camera at it can be considered AR tools.
Mixed reality (MR) is a further development of AR, where virtual world objects interact with real world objects in a limited way.
All available technologies form an augmented reality (XR) — a conditional virtual and real space, the way of interaction with which determines the capabilities of the device. Developers call the determining factor immersiveness (immersion effect). The device can either only supplement the objects of the environment, or completely replace them.
The basic scenario for communication remains that people who are physically far from each other spend time together. IT companies that helped find former classmates and establish connections have created ecosystems in which millions of people chat, make video calls, and play games.
Impact on a young audience living on social media
Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen accused her management on October 5 of knowing about the psychological problems that arise among teenagers who actively use social networks, especially Instagram. At the same time, the company is not taking any measures to combat the harm that is being caused, but on the contrary, is encouraging the growth of teenage involvement in using social networks. According to her, the company puts profit above user safety.
Just a day before, a network configuration error led to a six-hour outage of the social network Facebook and its subsidiaries Whatsapp and Instagram.
Regulation of the metaverse for the benefit of the audience or metadictatorship?
According to experts in information policy and media relations, the Facebook metaverse will be controlled by a "metadictatorship."
It is clear that the “metasense” will lead millions of young people into a “brave new world” where they can play, work, and “interact with each other in full 3D.” And the “community rules” imposed by IT giants on their platforms are nothing more than censorship.
Funding the Facebook Metaverse
Facebook has announced a $50 million XR Programs and Research Fund to help it develop its metaverse more conscientiously. The funds will be used for “programs and external research” over two years.
Metaverse - what is it?
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his vision for the “metasense” in July of this year. He envisions the future of social interactions as a three-dimensional digital environment where users’ virtual avatars interact. The company recently took its first step toward the metasense, a collaboration app that allows meetings to take place in virtual reality.
Where did the idea of a metaverse originally come from?
The idea of transferring games from virtual reality to ordinary canada number data life has been around for years. For example, to solve quests, thousands of people around the world join together in groups and solve complex tasks: players find some of the information on the Internet, and some on the streets of cities.
In the early 2000s, the first projects appeared that allowed anyone to immerse themselves in a virtual world. Second Life, released in 2003, was a kind of social network or virtual chat room. It had no central plot - players united in clubs based on interests and simulated real life.
Video player
00:00
02:40
In 2021, the game still has several hundred thousand players, and the developers continue to add content.
The developers of the first virtual reality games called them “digital countries.” Due to technical limitations, such projects cannot generate content on the scale that social networks and new games can now do.
In 2019, American DJ Marshmello held a virtual concert in Fortnite. In the three years since its launch, the shooter has become not only a competitive game, but also a center of virtual entertainment. During the pandemic, several other famous pop and rap artists have given concerts in the game from Epic Games.
Since 2020, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has been talking about the idea of unifying all accounts in each ecosystem: those who want to will link their Facebook, Twitter, Fortnite, and Call Of Duty accounts, and the projects will unite as a single digital space with its own rules and economy.
In April 2021, the company raised $1 billion to develop its metaverse. Sweeney said that much of the money will go towards improving social services and developing new features. Hundreds of millions of dollars will also be invested in the development of the Unreal Engine, which will be used to create new VR and AR projects.
How and what technologies will the metaverse work?
Virtual reality (VR) is a completely fictional world created using current technology. The simplest example is computer games.
Augmented Reality (AR) is the introduction of any technology on top of the current reality using applications or devices. Applications that instantly translate text when you point the camera at it can be considered AR tools.
Mixed reality (MR) is a further development of AR, where virtual world objects interact with real world objects in a limited way.
All available technologies form an augmented reality (XR) — a conditional virtual and real space, the way of interaction with which determines the capabilities of the device. Developers call the determining factor immersiveness (immersion effect). The device can either only supplement the objects of the environment, or completely replace them.
The basic scenario for communication remains that people who are physically far from each other spend time together. IT companies that helped find former classmates and establish connections have created ecosystems in which millions of people chat, make video calls, and play games.
Impact on a young audience living on social media
Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen accused her management on October 5 of knowing about the psychological problems that arise among teenagers who actively use social networks, especially Instagram. At the same time, the company is not taking any measures to combat the harm that is being caused, but on the contrary, is encouraging the growth of teenage involvement in using social networks. According to her, the company puts profit above user safety.
Just a day before, a network configuration error led to a six-hour outage of the social network Facebook and its subsidiaries Whatsapp and Instagram.
Regulation of the metaverse for the benefit of the audience or metadictatorship?
According to experts in information policy and media relations, the Facebook metaverse will be controlled by a "metadictatorship."
It is clear that the “metasense” will lead millions of young people into a “brave new world” where they can play, work, and “interact with each other in full 3D.” And the “community rules” imposed by IT giants on their platforms are nothing more than censorship.
Funding the Facebook Metaverse
Facebook has announced a $50 million XR Programs and Research Fund to help it develop its metaverse more conscientiously. The funds will be used for “programs and external research” over two years.