After 20 Years of Facebook, Social Media is Crucial to Meta

Facebook is about to turn 20 years old next month. It instantly became a viral app that began as a social networking app for Harvard University students. Though the term social media was coined ten years before its inception, the platform helped it move to higher grounds so the world could see it. Now after becoming social media kings, it is now going after the metaverse, the next iteration of the internet (hypothetically).

Conquering AI or Conquered by AI?

After the successful streak that cemented the company’s position as a leader, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, decided to rebrand itself. In 2021, the organization became Meta Platforms from Facebook in hopes that this title will showcase their devotion to the metaverse. However, their devotion has cost them nearly $50 Billion, maybe more, as the figure was reported in October 2023.

They recently released the latest product in the fleet of head-mounted displays (HMDs), Meta Quest 3. Despite losing so much revenue, the company is still optimistic about the future of the metaverse. However, it may still take a “good decade” to realize this vision, said Nicola Mendelsohn, the company’s head of global business, during a World Economic Forum (WEF) event.

It may be that Meta sees the metaverse as more than virtual worlds. “Metaverse is very much the next iteration of the internet, the next computing platform,” Nicola said. “The real difference here is it’s almost something that you feel a physical presence, you feel that you’re much more immersed in it.”

Furthermore, the company’s HMD products remain heavily concentrated in the United States market. In a November 2023 analysis, both Quest 3 and its predecessor had sold 191,150 units. Regarding the cost, they hold an upper hand in contrast to their rivals including Apple and Magic Leap. Both companies are selling their HMD units for $3,500 and $3,300 per piece respectively.

Products using technologies including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), extended reality (XR), and more are imperative to access the metaverse experience. Nevertheless, several companies have decided to turn their backs on it. For example, the iPhone bearer Apple is focusing solely on spatial computing.

However large the vision Mark Zuckerberg is holding, it was indeed shaken by the fading interest in the metaverse. As the battle to conquer artificial intelligence (AI) is heating up, Meta CEO has participated in it too. Maybe the AI race has gone too far with artificial general intelligence (AGI), a theoretical concept having human-like intelligence.

It appears like in a battle to conquer AI and AI is conquering whoever is trying to partake in this battle. Even if Meta Platforms is to materialize the metaverse, AI is likely to be there, maybe helping users with content creation or assisting in other activities. Still, Meta’s social media division remains their leading source of revenue as far as finance is concerned. It will continue to play an important role as the company advances.

Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.