Last October 2021, Facebook Inc., the company that owns the popular social network Facebook (which, spoiler alert, will keep the name), announced that it was changing its name to Meta. Mark Zuckerberg, creator and designer of Facebook, made this announcement in the framework of the revelation of the Facebook Papers, and took the opportunity to mention that he wants to lead the next stage of the world of the Internet.
Thus, Zuckerberg’s plans go through the creation of what he himself called “Metaverse”: a virtual world in which people from all over the world can meet to carry out different activities, such as shopping, work and play. . In this article we are going to see in detail what the Metaverse is and the potential impact it could have in 2022.
What is the Metaverse and how does it work?
In Zuckerberg’s own words, the Metaverse “is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who are not in the same physical space as you.”
The Metaverse will rely heavily on the latest virtual reality (VR) technologies, as it will be the way users can inhabit these virtual spaces through devices that have this technology. The company anticipates that there will be new ways to interact with different VR devices, and that it will be much more natural than pressing keys or buttons. Through gestures, and even, and according to Zuckerberg, with thoughts, different actions can be carried out within the Metaverse.
The creation of scenarios and virtual worlds where each person creates their own avatar or persona and interacts with other users is nothing new. The video game industry, for example, has been developing games of this style for almost two decades, such as Haboo Hotel, Second Life or World of Warcraft. Meta what it intends is to unite this type of world with Internet browsing and virtual reality.
Thus, in the Metarverse, what is sought is that people not only browse for fun, but also carry out productive activities such as having work meetings, or meetings with friends or family. This decision is especially important if we analyze that, after a year of pandemic and remote work, the company launched an application called Horizon Workrooms in August 2021, which, through virtual reality glasses, allows users to enter meeting rooms. virtual to interact with other colleagues.