Facebook's metaverse is designed to solve several problems: an aging userbase, dependence on Google and Apple, regulatory risk, and reputational damage

If his new strategy works — a big if — it could help address several of Facebook's biggest problems.

New York Times 2021-10-31 Kevin Roose

Context & Ripple Effects

Facebook had already cast its metaverse work as a way to repair its standing with policymakers and influence the rules for future technology. Zuckerberg’s earlier account of the vision also foregrounded the risk of further fragmenting shared reality, making trust and governance central to the strategy rather than a later add-on.

The new framing ties those policy and product ambitions to Facebook’s competitive position against Apple and Google, turning the metaverse into a bid to reshape where users interact and where platform control sits.

First-order effects

Facebook can present the metaverse to users, policymakers, and investors as a strategic reset that addresses audience growth, platform dependence, and reputational pressure at once.
Apple and Google become the implicit counterparties to Facebook’s push for a computing environment where its products are less dependent on their platforms.

Second-order effects

Competition shifts toward control of the virtual-world interface: Facebook’s effort gives Apple and Google a stronger incentive to protect the user relationships and platform access on which Facebook currently depends.
Facebook’s policy outreach is constrained by the governance burden of immersive spaces; a later internal assessment seeking “almost Disney levels of safety” also acknowledged that moderation at meaningful scale is impractical.

Third-order effects

If virtual worlds become a major interface layer, platform advantage will increasingly rest on governance and safety systems as well as hardware, software, and user reach.
The metaverse becomes a test of whether a company under reputational and regulatory pressure can use a new platform category to recombine its competitive moat rather than merely extend its existing social network.

The trend: Large consumer platforms are pursuing new interface layers to reduce dependence on incumbent gatekeepers while making trust and regulation part of the product strategy.

Discussion

@frankpasquale Frank Pasquale on x
“Had social networking emerged in the 1960s, it would have turned out very differently, because much of what Zuckerberg did - such as buying competitors to monopolize an industry - would have been considered illegal.” https://mattstoller.substack.com/ ...
@evleaks @evleaks on x
The Meta favicon 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/...
@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/...
@kenroth Kenneth Roth on x
“A metaverse strategy...could finally get Facebook out from under Apple's and Google's thumbs” so “it doesn't need to worry about getting kicked out of the app store for snooping on users' activity or aiding the illegal trafficking of domestic workers.” https://www.nytimes.com/..…
@donal_okeeffe @donal_okeeffe on x
I think this is the best description of Facebook I've seen in ages: “a Boomer-dominated sludge pit filled with cute animal videos and hyperpartisan garbage”. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@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/...
@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/...
@ozraeliavi Avi Yemini on x
Meta means “she's dead” in Hebrew. Seems fitting. https://twitter.com/...
@babblingbrookea Br⚢ke on x
actually Meta is the name of the company. Facebook is the monster
@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.
@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!”
@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.
@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
@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
@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
@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)
@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...
@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/...
@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.
@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/ ...
@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?”
@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/ ...
@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.
@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.
@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/...
@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/...
@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.
@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.”
@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/...
@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/...
@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.
@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/...
@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/...
@gabrielsnyder Gabriel Snyder on x
in light of the hellscape that Facebook constructed in social media, this description of the metaverse it wants to now build reads like pure sci-fi dystopia https://about.fb.com/... https://twitter.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…
@scalzi John Scalzi on x
Oh, for fuck's sake. One, everyone who uses the term “meta” for anything can expect this asshole's lawyers to get all up in their business, which will be JUST GREAT, THANKS; Two, a racist authoritarian-leaning tech company by any other name still sucks. https://gizmodo.com/...
@michaelemann Prof Michael E. Mann on x
Mark Zuckerberg: please please go live in the Metaverse! https://apnews.com/... 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.
@davidgura David Gura on x
In an interview with @stratechery, Mark Zuckerberg seems to suggest that, by enabling furtive, discourteous distraction, Meta will get us closer to “a deep sense of presence.” https://stratechery.com/... https://twitter.com/...

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