Get ready for the metaverse.
In a new interview on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg said that over the next five years, he wants people to think of Facebook not as a social media company, but a 'metaverse' company, akin to a virtual environment where people can work and play for most of their 24 hours without leaving their home.
'And my hope, if we do this well, I think over the next five years or so, in this next chapter of our company, I think we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company,' Zuckerberg said in the interview with The Verge.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that over the next five years, he wants people to think of it not as a social media company, but a 'metaverse' company
'And obviously, all of the work that we’re doing across the apps that people use today contribute directly to this vision in terms of building community and creators.
'But this is something that I’m spending a lot of time on, thinking a lot about, we’re working on a ton. And I think it’s just a big part of the next chapter for the work that we’re going to do in the whole industry.'
So what exactly is the metaverse?
As Zuckerberg describes it, it's a 'vision' that spans the entire tech industry, calling it the successor to the mobile internet.
'But you can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it,' he continued.
'And you feel present with other people as if you were in other places, having different experiences that you couldn’t necessarily do on a 2D app or webpage, like dancing, for example, or different types of fitness.'
'You can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it,' Zuckerberg said. It's similar to the OASIS in Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One with its protagonist Wade Watts (pictured)
In the OASIS, users can create avatars, including popular movie characters, such as the Iron Giant (pictured)
Essentially, it's an environment similar to the OASIS in Ernest Cline's novel and the blockbuster Warner Bros. movie Ready Player One.
The fictional OASIS, created by a Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs-like character named James Halliday, lets people, including the novel's protagonist, Wade Watts, put on a headset and enter a virtual world where they can be anybody or do anything, all from the comfort of their own home.
Presumably Zuckerberg wants the company's Oculus division to build the aforementioned headset.
Users can create avatars, including popular movie characters, such as the Iron Giant, so they are able to look like anything they wish from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed.
They can go off to far away worlds for rock climbing trips with Batman, visit distant locales they could never
