Discussion

• @nealstephenson Neal Stephenson on x

  Since there seems to be growing confusion on this: I have nothing to do with anything that FB is up to involving the Metaverse, other than the obvious fact that they're using a term I coined in Snow Crash. There has been zero communication between me and FB & no biz relationship.

• @genepark Gene Park on x

  Facebook is playing catchup to the metaverse, make no mistake, this is fact. Here are the gaming platforms and games that already offer much of Zuckerberg's “future.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @genepark Gene Park on x

  so no. i do not believe the current media ecoysystem has infinite room for perspectives. i don't expect brian stelter or jim cramer to talk about the metaverse at length in any context outside of the facebook lens. if im wrong, i'll be glad for it. but its not happening now.

• @genepark Gene Park on x

  I give a shout out to Ubisoft's historical tours in the Assassins Creed series. As a geek for Egyptian history it was heaven to stand among marketplaces from 2,000 years ago and learn more. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @michaelcarusi Michael Scare-usi on x

  @GenePark The fact that people still treat gaming as a cute little kids' pastime will never cease to amaze me. Minecraft alone is one of the most successful entertainment properties probably in human history since that gets brought up a lot.

• @genepark Gene Park on x

  thank you this is my overall point. this is just “games” so in the eyes of many editors, news directors, cable news anchors etc, it doesn't have anything to do with the future of the internet, when it always has. https://twitter.com/...

• @dimeford Pete Haas on x

  And even if Facebook wasn't behind on features, it's SO far behind these other companies on trust. https://twitter.com/...

• @xuelder @xuelder on x

  @MichaelCarusi @GenePark Pokemon, a gaming institution, is the biggest franchise in the world. Pikachu is a more valuable mouse mascot than Mickey.

• @whrobbins Will Robbins on x

  Asimov wrote the Three Laws of Robotics in the 1940s Stephenson coined “Metaverse” in 1993 Is there any sci-fi written over the past 25 years that will be relevant in 2050? Or have we past the golden age of sci-fi? https://twitter.com/...

• @mattniessner Matthias Niessner on x

  The “Facebook -> Meta” rebranding is quite a big deal for computer vision & graphics research. It's a long-term commitment by a trillion dollar tech company to virtual 3D cyberspaces (aka metaverse), driven by virtual/augmented reality tech, which is great for our field!

• @eanagel Ethan Nagel on x

  @Moonalice ... Interesting read be he seems to miss that timing is everything. Yes 26 years ago, metaverse was going to fail. And 10 and 5. Because the technology wasn't there. But an immersive VR experience is coming. Facebook is the last company that should be building it...

• @bentarnoff Ben Tarnoff on x

  A lot of the commentary on Facebook announcement boils down, “it looks like shit.” But I mean, so did the internet in the 80s. Takes a lot of patient funding for technologies to achieve liftoff, which is historically been DARPA's role

• @srijith Srijith Nair on x

  @EthanZ's article on Metaverse building details some of the pertinent issues in the second half of the article. However, the biggest issue is left mostly unexplored - who is building it and how it will be built. https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @theatlantic @theatlantic on x

  “Facebook can claim originality in at least one thing,” @EthanZ writes. “Its combination of scale and irresponsibility has unleashed a set of diverse and fascinating sociopolitical challenges that it will take ... at least a generation to fix.” https://on.theatln.tc/z9GzZ9P

• @eanagel Ethan Nagel on x

  @Moonalice ... ...an open, standards-based metaverse is really the best chance we have for something less destructive to society than facebooks vision.

• @jeffreygoldberg Jeffrey Goldberg on x

  “The metaverse Zuckerberg shows off in his video doesn't have to solve those problems. He's promising future technologies that are five to 10 years off. But it still looks like junk.” — @EthanZ: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...

• @marechalphd Nathalie Maréchal, PhD on x

  ⁦@EthanZ⁩ nails it. The Metaverse was boring before Facebook. https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...

• @moonalice Roger McNamee on x

  .@EthanZ is always must read, but this essay is a delicious stew of history lesson, snark, and serious analysis. https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...

• @bentarnoff Ben Tarnoff on x

  It's true that metaverse-ish stuff has existed before: VR, SecondLife, etc. But Facebook is essentially a state, with state-like resources at its disposal. If DARPA could summon the internet into existence, why can't Facebook do it with the metaverse? https://www.theatlantic.com/…

• @wendys Meat on x

  Changing name to Meat

• @facebook @facebook on x

  Announcing @Meta — the Facebook company's new name. Meta is helping to build the metaverse, a place where we'll play and connect in 3D. Welcome to the next chapter of social connection. https://twitter.com/...

• @jack Jack⚡️ on x

  meta: referring to itself or to the conventions of its genre; self-referential.

• @aoc Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on x

  Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society... for profit!” https://twitter.com/...

• @drtechlash Nirit Weiss-Blatt, PhD on x

  @fbnewsroom In Hebrew, *Meta* means *Dead* The Jewish community will ridicule this name for years to come.

• @heatherkelly Heather Kelly on x

  It looks like Mark Zuckerberg gave embargoed interviews to four white male reporters about Meta. Am I missing any others? Verge, Stratechery, The Information, that one that sounds like a bad word.

• @mc_lotta Charlotte Avery on x

  https://twitter.com/...

• @taylordotbiz Taylor Moore on x

  https://twitter.com/...

• @birdyword Mike Bird on x

  Zuckerberg saying “Never surprise people” and Clegg replying “Right, and that means being transparent” simply has to be a UK political in-joke that someone was paid to include.

• @chloe_somethin Chloë🧃🐛 on x

  his face after he says “connecting with people” made me scream https://twitter.com/...

• @viacristiano Cristiano Lima on x

  So are the Big Four now.... MAGA?

• @anildash Anil Dash on x

  I'm old enough to remember that when Microsoft finally came under serious regulatory scrutiny in the 90s, they started making more and more vaporware “concept videos” with big promises about shit that they never shipped, hoping to distract from the legitimate criticism.

• @chelseahandler Chelsea Handler on x

  Nothing I trust less than a man who has never connected with a single person telling me about connecting with people. https://twitter.com/...

• @jackshafer Jack Shafer on x

  “There is not a single person in existence who has scanned Facebook's News Feed and said: Yes, immerse me in this reality. I want to feel my uncle's meme about Hot Pockets on my face.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...

• @rosejackson3 Rose Jackson on x

  Why I've been urging folks to take the gaming world more seriously. It is often the leading edge of tech and social tech innovation, that then becomes mainstreamed for the world. A lot gets baked in early on, in an industry that gets ignored by policymakers and mocked by others h…

• @dantechnik Dan on x

  It's sad that the biggest drive for excitement and innovation in VR is Facebook. Which is also one of its greatest road blocks to wider adoption. Il never ever deal with Facebook or Meta and I'm really excited about VR. It's a shame Oculus couldn't have remained independent. http…

• @linkofhyrule89 Matthew on x

  @pcgamer You just need a “Meta account” probably... Which is literally the same thing but renamed.

• @hackneyabbott Diane Abbott MP on x

  Mark Zuckerberg renames his company. But Facebook still promotes toxic content preying on children & teens. It also stokes division. In the end he puts his astronomical profits before people. https://www.bbc.com/...

• @ewarren Elizabeth Warren on x

  New name, same plan: #BreakUpBigTech. https://apnews.com/...

• @teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x

  Some Meta news — “Meta” used to be a brand owned by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's philanthropy. Meta, for unrelated reasons, is sunsetting. And so Facebook and CZI “entered an agreement to transfer those brand assets to Facebook.” Full news. http…

• @fvogelstein Fred Vogelstein on x

  Remember when FB went down a few weeks back?A compelling theory on why from friend Chris @SpotOnPolitics “They were migrating (internal systems/web pages/DNS) to Meta. Someone fucked up.Small DNS transfers are hairy. Imagine doing it across millions of servers around the world.”

• @kevinbankston Kevin Bankston on x

  I also love this image taken out of context. It's like he's ritually summoning his evil virtual doppleganger. Not the choice I would've gone with. https://twitter.com/...

• @fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x

  the meta logo is so bad. The thumbs up was a good logo! Directly tied to the product, sunny and whimsical. smushed infinity is inoffensive anodyne corporate nothingburber.

• @metasynthie @metasynthie on x

  All you wiseacres making fun of Meta with accurate dunks on how it's a boring version of Ready Player Second Life won't be laughing when Zuck buys Salesforce and your HR department requires you to attend mandatory sessions in the metaverse in order to get healthcare benefits

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  Just realized with a sinking feeling that this whole NFT thing is basically the groundwork to Facebook forcing us to buy avatars as in-game purchases in the metaverse just to attend a business meeting. Legs will cost extra

• @joshconstine Josh Constine on x

  Facebook's rebrand to Meta is smart since it's an easy modifier for any product name: Meta Apps, Meta Business, Meta Avatar. https://twitter.com/...

• @actnormalorelse Lauren on x

  between the zuckerberg VR conference and musk saying he shouldn't be taxed so he can build offworld colonies it seems really obvious the billionaire playbook is to just pick a sci fi trope to focus on and hope we're all so stupid we take their claims at face value

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  I see where this is going. https://twitter.com/...

• @aslavitt @aslavitt on x

  Meta accomplishes only one thing. It allows Mark Zuckerberg to say he's not the CEO of Facebook. He will now do less controversial things like build a new virtual universe where he can be king. While running Facebook.

• @pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x

  Is there anyone literally anywhere that actually wants a metaverse

• @pixelatedboat @pixelatedboat on x

  Okay this part was weird https://twitter.com/...

• @mosseri @mosseri on x

  Meta and Instagram's Future The future of the ✨metaverse✨ is not yet defined - and I find that really exciting. Looking forward to continuing our work in this space and building this new medium together. ✌🏼 https://twitter.com/...

• @twittersafety @twittersafety on x

  the only #META we acknowledge is this: [link to article on Twitter's META team]

• @danpfeiffer Dan Pfeiffer on x

  This entire Facebook Meta shitshow has real signs of a company where no one has the guts or cache to tell Mark Zuckerberg his ideas are embarrassingly stupid

• @yoda Drew Olanoff on x

  the old switcharoo is through https://twitter.com/...

• @levie Aaron Levie on x

  If your startup is not building a holding company at this point, are you even really a company?

• @graysongoal Grave-son Ghoul on x

  As a trans person, I plan to keep calling them Facebook until they prove their name change via legal documents https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffbercovici Jeff Bercovici on x

  Zuckerberg “was presented with research showing that associating any of the company's products with the Facebook brand caused trust to drop,” but kept slapping it on stuff anyway before yesterday's reversal, reports @sal19 https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  I imagine some of this is just wanting the thing you were responsible for creating to still be the dominant force and given credit for its ascendancy instead of things like Instagram — again, an extremely smart acquisition — being known as “the crown jewel”

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  this is good to my knowledge, mark wanted to make Facebook, the brand, work for a very long time, often against the advice of many inside the company. Forcing facebook login, stamping “from FB” on other apps, etc. him letting go of that is a big shift https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @quinnypig @quinnypig on x

  Then he signed the paperwork and now known as “Mork Zuckerberg.” https://twitter.com/...

• @lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x

  So, basically, Facebook's 2019 decision to rebrand products with “from Facebook” ("WhatsApp from Facebook") might as well have been to add “from Hell” https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @sal19 Sal Rodriguez on x

  My latest scoop for CNBC: The Facebook name was such a drag that employees referred to it as a ‘brand tax’ https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @jordannovet Jordan Novet on x

  fun scoopage from @sal19 on forcing the ‘from Facebook’ name into Instagram and other company products https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @jenn_elias Jennifer Elias on x

  The company has already begun removing the Facebook name from several units as it increasingly became a liability, according to employees. Workers referred to it as a “brand tax.” by @sal19 https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @gregisenberg Greg Isenberg on x

  BREAKING: FB is now being rebranded to “Meta” The real story isn't Facebook is moving toward the metaverse and web3 The real story is that the path towards web3 and the metaverse is pretty unstoppable Facebook knows this and you know it https://twitter.com/...

• @evleaks @evleaks on x

  Meta https://twitter.com/...

• @balajis Balaji Srinivasan on x

  Meta comment on Meta Notice that Zuck went direct with his announcement. And when he decided to give an interview, he gave it to a smart independent like Stratechery, not a legacy media corporation. And it's a good interview. https://stratechery.com/...

• @harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x

  I find this sad somehow. Oculus is a great brand and it feels like it's getting caught in Facebook's crossfire. But it's interesting to see that Meta, unlike Alphabet WILL be consumer-facing. https://www.theverge.com/...

• @thatguytagg @thatguytagg on x

  God it super blows that the only company taking Virtual Reality and Alternate Reality seriously is the one that is hell-bent on commercializing the innate social aspect of humanity, publicly exploits that power AND willingly lets others exploit it too!!! :)) very cool!! https://t…

• Gameranx Matt Cook on x

  The Oculus Brand Is Being Killed Off

• @senwarren Elizabeth Warren on x

  Facebook changing their corporate name to Meta isn't going to change the underlying facts. They're a monopoly. They crush competition. And they refuse to control the spread of misinformation and harmful content on their site. We need to break up Facebook. https://twitter.com/...

• @msense_app @msense_app on x

  We are very honoured that @facebook felt inspired by the logo of our migraine app - maybe they'll get inspired by our data privacy procedures as well 👀 🤓 #dataprivacy #meta #facebook https://twitter.com/...

• @zackbornstein Zack Bornstein on x

  That face when you just wanted a faster way to rank girls by looks and ended up enabling a fascist coup in the richest country on earth https://twitter.com/...

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  I've had it with endless Facebook scandals. The only way to change behavior is a criminal investigation of Zuckerberg and fellow FB insiders, and there's a strong case for the DOJ to pursue one. https://mattstoller.substack.com/ ...

• @jeffjohnroberts Jeff Roberts on x

  @mayazi Smart thread. But isn't hardware FB's achilles heel? Remember the facebook phone a few years back... I agree Zuck is trying to wrest control from Apple et al, but pulling it off is going to be a tough task

• @digiphile Alex Howard on x

  “The metaverse isn't about building perfect virtual escape hatches—it's about holding a mirror to our own broken, shared world. @Facebook's promised metaverse is about distracting us from the world it's helped break.”-@ethanz https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...

• @babblingbrookea Br⚢ke on x

  actually Meta is the name of the company. Facebook is the monster

• @dkthomp Derek Thompson on x

  @edzitron you're either saying the same thing as Kevin, or missing his point: the fact that the Metaverse doesn't exist in any way is exactly why it's a useful escape hatch! “Mark, we'd like to talk about current disinfor-” “May I interest you in this unfalsifiable tech dream?”

• @meta_pr1 @meta_pr1 on x

  Rebranding from #Facebook to #Meta is not an attempt to remove negative associations around Facebook from the internet. We've already paid Google a bunch of money to do that for us.

• @adamnash Adam Nash on x

  @sbyrnes The consumer demand for VR is inevitable, more of a question of who will end up developing the platform(s) for it. Very hard to see a world where VR doesn't happen, more of an inevitable outcome of technology improvement. Timing, of course, does matter...

• @mayazi Maya Zehavi on x

  - Amazon's marketplace includes the same surveillance but also owns the cloud for other application. The market is their business, all sides of it - Apple sells the best package & experience tailored according to their rules, their payment rail, App Store, identity & security

• @vancityreynolds Ryan Reynolds on x

  If Facebook can rebrand as Meta without asking me, then I get to rebrand myself as Birthday Reminders, no questions asked. Happy Birthday @AndyRichter.

• @kenmhaggerty Ken M. Haggerty on x

  @kevinroose I really think everyone is overthinking the “3D chess” behind this. It's just what Mark Zuckerberg thinks is the cool new thing, and he wants to be the person & company to do it. I really don't think it's much more thought out than that.

• @sbyrnes @sbyrnes on x

  This is the problem with the “metaverse” strategy. Facebook is pursuing it because it's good for Facebook, not because there is real consumer demand. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @mayazi Maya Zehavi on x

  The underrated Zuck move: FB realized that the only sustainable biz model in the stack is one that requires them to own the the OS & hardware. The move to Meta is about to be followed by a shift to more FB owned devices other than the new watch & Occulus (VR headset)

• @bettemidler @bettemidler on x

  Facebook is changing its name to Meta. “Knock knock!” “Who's there?” “Meta!” “Meta who?” “Meta whistleblower & instead of improving the way we do business, we're gonna pretend to be a new business!”

• @joannastern Joanna Stern on x

  I just watched @boztank's AMA on Instagram and it's by far the best summary and Q+A of what Meta is trying to do, especially with Facebook logins, Quest and more. For those with questions I suggest watching.

• @jstn Justin Ouellette on x

  for context: john carmack is a game dev god and the ‘consulting’ CTO of oculus, the hardware lynchpin of fb's metaverse https://twitter.com/...

• @oliverdarcy Oliver Darcy on x

  “This isn't a vanity stunt for Mr. Zuckerberg,” @kevinroose writes. “In the metaverse, he has found what may be an escape hatch — a way to eject himself from Facebook's messy, troubled present and break ground on a new, untainted frontier.” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @mayazi Maya Zehavi on x

  Notice Apple, Amazon & Google are after the same thing, only the difference between the FAANG is what biz model they use to monetize. - Google owns Android, search & mail which is enough to monetize selling user data & surveillance, but the Android distribution is . advantage

• @tablehopper Marcia Gagliardi on x

  “The bleakest version of what Facebook might become in the next few years [...] — a Boomer-dominated sludge pit filled with cute animal videos and hyperpartisan garbage — is clearly not the kind of thing the company wants as its flagship product.” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @docdre Thot Leedurr on x

  here we go with this technophilic rhetoric: “untainted” and “frontier” *sigh* https://twitter.com/...

• @dkthomp Derek Thompson on x

  This is a great frame from @kevinroose FB faces - aging risk - platform risk - regulatory risk - reputation risk Meta - skews young w VR/AR - vertically integrates hardware + software - is pre-regulation - is a reputationally unsettled tech frontier https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @edzitron Ed Dead Redemption on x

  Somehow this misses that they don't really have any kind of metaverse product https://twitter.com/...

• @mshannahmurphy Hannah Murphy on x

  As Zuck pushes Meta, academics call for metaverse regulation “Meta treats the world as free digital real estate, a resource for corporate extraction, surveillance, commercialisation. This speculation must be preceded by state permit, licence, fee, or tax” https://www.ft.com/...

• @harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x

  And now for some praise of Facebook's rebrand. https://www.fastcompany.com/ ...

• @snowden Edward Snowden on x

  Facebook is Facebook. Don't write about the name, write about what they do, because that's what matters. Paperwork doesn't change the nature of a thing.

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  Looking again at how Apple demos Smart Home stuff while rewatching Facebook's VR demos from yesterday. https://twitter.com/...

• @snazzyq Quinn Nelson on x

  This is sad. Oculus name has a lot of legacy. “Meta Quest” sounds like a bad 90s sitcom. https://twitter.com/...

• @nytimes @nytimes on x

  The “metaverse” isn't a vanity stunt for Mark Zuckerberg, @kevinroose writes. “He has found what may be an escape hatch — a way to eject himself from Facebook's messy, troubled present and break ground on a new, untainted frontier.” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @richardfausset Richard Fausset on x

  “a Boomer-dominated sludge pit filled with cute animal videos and hyperpartisan garbage...” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @nytimesbusiness @nytimesbusiness on x

  Facebook's vision for an immersive virtual environment it calls the metaverse could help solve at least four big, thorny problems it faces here in the terrestrial world. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @davewiner Dave Winer on x

  Journalism writes about their version of reality, which is different from actual reality. Here's a link to the story (no paywall). https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @ismaelnafria Ismael Nafría on x

  The Metaverse Is Mark Zuckerberg's Escape Hatch If his new strategy works — a big if — it could help address several of Facebook's biggest problems. Buen análisis @nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/...