Metaverse is ‘huge bet’ for Zuckerberg: business expert

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According to University of New South Wales professor Bernie Tan, Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse is a big bet for the tech giant to regain its dwindling user numbers.

Tan, who also heads the Department of Information Systems and Technology Management, said Zuckerberg’s company Meta is proposing a virtual world of “unprecedented sophistication and scale” that seeks to combine virtual and physical reality. said to develop

“Our prospects for success will depend on the number of complementary service providers, co-developers and users we can attract to the ecosystem, as Meta cannot do it all alone,” he told the Epoch Times. said in an e-mail.

“It’s certainly beneficial to have a company as big as Meta leading the transition to the Metaverse, but at the same time, Meta doesn’t have the best reputation among tech companies.”

“Many people have expressed concerns about Meta using behavioral data from the Metaverse for marketing purposes. The key to attracting these [tech firms] It’s about making sure there’s a high value and low cost, or risk of participation. The higher this ratio, the better. “

But Tan pointed out that there are “easier ways” to stop Facebook’s decline in user numbers.

“They can acquire new and interesting social media platforms, or mimic and innovate on what other popular social media platforms have to offer, as they have done in the past.”

catch a young man

Meta has created virtual worlds in an effort to attract more young audiences who are opting out of its platform and instead moving to apps like China-backed TikTok. Instagram owned by Meta even hired app functionality.

The Metaverse is reminiscent of Second Life, an earlier online platform that allowed users to create avatars to live a “second life” in a virtual world.

The platform builds on this concept and seeks to more deeply integrate the personal experience with the billions of dollars invested in the project and the development of the virtual reality set.

However, there are questions about the positive or negative impact of a large metaverse involving millions of people, with some experts already pointing out that common problems The “opium of the masses,” including online bullying and addiction.

Jason Miller, founder of social media app Gettr, shared a similar assessment.

“It’s like a computerized extension of identity politics,” he previously told The Epoch Times. “Hey, I’m going to live online and have this other person or version of who I am.” By the way, “I go shopping when I’m online so I can make people online cooler and more unique.”

“It’s not real life. I think there’s a certain point where you start getting into transhumanism and all sorts of weird stuff. It’s not that big of a leap,” he said.

Daniel Y. Teng

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Daniel Y. Teng is based in Sydney. His focus is on national politics such as federal politics, the COVID-19 response and Australia-China relations. Any tips? Please contact [email protected].

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