DERYA MATRAS
VP MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND TURKEY AT META (FACEBOOK)
How would you define the metaverse? The metaverse is the next evolution in a long line of social technologies and will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions, or projected into the physical world – and seamlessly stitched together so that you can easily jump from one thing to another. And because it is immersive and engaging, it makes it easier to really feel like you are experiencing things together - through sharing a space rather than simply a screen.
While nothing beats being together in person, recent months have highlighted how, when that’s not possible or practical, the digital world can still help us feel connected. The metaverse helps us answer this challenge by helping get us even closer to feeling that in-person connection.
What will people be able to do in the metaverse? The mobile internet has already allowed people to work, learn and socialise in ways that are less limited by their physical location. The metaverse will help expand these opportunities even further. For example, the metaverse will enable more immersive experiences. Imagine standing on the streets, hearing the sounds, visiting the markets of places far away from where you live or could ever travel to. In the metaverse, you’ll be able to teleport not just to any place, but any time as well. Imagine learning how historical cities and buildings were built by actually seeing them get built, right in front of you. While the metaverse feels like a far-off vision, glimmers of it can already be experienced today.
Virtual Reality (VR) is already letting us create immersive experiences that deepen our sense of presence online. For example, we recently launched Horizon Workrooms, which lets people collaborate in digital spaces – letting you turn your gaze to see a group of people around you, read people’s body language, and use spatial audio to hear quiet chatter, interruptions or laughter from wherever it is coming from in the room.
How will it redefine society as we know it? Nothing beats being together, but when we can’t be together in person, the metaverse will help us get even closer to feeling that inperson connection. Because it is immersive and engaging, it makes it easier to really feel like you are having a shared experience even when you can’t be together. It won’t happen overnight, but over time, the metaverse will unlock new opportunities for people and communities. Immersive and engaging experience means more people will be able to choose to study and train in places that felt off-limits because of where they live or what they can afford. And more people will be able to choose to turn their passions into careers because they won’t have to rely on access to expensive tools, vast workshops or precious materials to train, study or make digital art, games or experiences for people to enjoy.
Similarly, how will it shift the way we do business? In the metaverse, as users spend increasingly more time there, it makes sense for brands to advertise in virtual reality spaces as well. Companies can take advantage of the potential of the metaverse by offering their customers a highly personalized and interactive experience. For example, Ray-Ban Stories already lets you take pictures and videos, listen to music and take calls, all while keeping your phone down, and eyes up. This is a step on the way to being able to eventually wear normal-looking glasses that allow screens to appear in front of you and that you control with your fingertips, where you can pull up holograms of your friends to sit across from you wherever you – and they – are.
The metaverse is only in its early stages – when do you think it will become the norm? Our vision is for the metaverse to reach a billion people in the next decade, but for that to happen, access to hardware has to improve and connectivity across the world has to increase. As we build towards the metaverse, it will be more important to be smart than be fast.
It is important to note that Meta is neither going to build, own, or run the metaverse on its own. It requires collaboration with policymakers, experts and industry partners to bring this to life. Although it’s a long road ahead, we have already launched a two-year, $50 million investment in global research and program partners to help us in this effort. Collaborating with industry partners, civil rights groups, governments, nonprofits and academic institutions to figure out how to build these technologies responsibly. We are also a founding member of the XR Association (XRA). Together, member organisations will help build a responsible metaverse in XR (Extended Reality), which includes VR, augmented reality (AR), mixed-reality, and future immersive technology.
What role will social media play in this? Social media will play a crucial role as the metaverse will be the next evolution in a long line of social technologies and will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences. And because it is immersive and engaging, it makes it easier to really feel like you are experiencing things together – through sharing a space rather than simply a screen.
For a while yet, the primary way people will experience the metaverse is through 2D
apps. And even beyond that, we are focused on building ‘bridges’ from our apps on 2D screens into more immersive virtual experiences in the metaverse.
So maybe you will be able to click on an Instagram photo of your recent holiday and it will take you into a space in the metaverse where you can see all of your holiday pictures hung on the walls of a personally curated gallery that your friends can drop in on.
This year we are bringing Messenger Calls to VR. So soon you could tap a link that lets you enter your parent’s virtual living room, with photos of the family hung on the walls and familiar furnishings that make you feel at home, and continue the conversation as avatars or holograms all sharing a space.
Or while watching a video of your favourite comedian in a Facebook Event you might be able to tap on an icon behind the performer and be transported into the front row of a virtual audience, where you can hear other people sitting next to you laughing at the same jokes.
Just like the mobile internet started as a feature of Facebook and went on to become the centrepiece through the Facebook app, the metaverse will follow a similar path, starting off with more basic bridges and glimpses in our 2D apps, and eventually becoming central to the way we connect online. In your opinion, for those who don’t adapt, what will happen? The metaverse is the next evolution in social technologies and the successor to the mobile internet. Technology allowed us to write, then talk and now see each other. The metaverse will be the next step - letting us feel like we are sharing a space together. The last decade saw a shift from desktop web to mobile internet and the next decade will be about shifting into the metaverse.
“TECHNOLOGY ALLOWED US TO WRITE, THEN TALK AND NOW SEE EACH OTHER. THE METAVERSE WILL BE THE NEXT STEP – LETTING US FEEL LIKE WE ARE SHARING A SPACE TOGETHER. THE LAST DECADE SAW A SHIFT FROM DESKTOP WEB TO MOBILE INTERNET AND THE NEXT DECADE WILL BE ABOUT SHIFTING INTO THE METAVERSE.” – Derya Matras, VP Middle East, Africa and Turkey at Meta (Facebook)