Facebook has been hinting at a stronger VR push for a while. The majority of its acquisitions over the last two years have involved VR startups or related companies, and this year in its July earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg elaborated on this vision for the metaverse. It should be noted that Facebook has come under significant regulatory scrutiny this year, for a set of internal documents revealed across September. Facebook was quick to address the charges and amid all of this, declared a complete refresh in its corporate direction.
The newly minted Meta builds on Facebook’s impressive legacy as a social media company, which changed the way the world communicates. While it wasn’t the first of its kind, it was definitely the most influential social media platform and now has approximately 2.91 billion monthly active users around the world.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has similar ambitions for Meta and the metaverse platform, and hopes to sign on a billion new users relatively quickly this time, in the next one decade.
What Is Meta?
Meta can be best described as a social technology company, where all of the company’s applications, products, and services help to “bring the metaverse to life.” The metaverse is an immersive VR space where users can engage in complex interactions with each other and with the world around them. And unlike typical VR apps, the metaverse will converge multiple virtual worlds each designed for a discrete purpose.
Under Meta, existing products like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus, and Messenger as well as new ones will together fuel this vision.
Meta is similar to Facebook, in that its core product is still social experiences – albeit now in a different realm. Meta is also different from Facebook as it intends to invest billions of dollars in building the metaverse, along with associated technologies like sophisticated VR, AR headsets, MR SDKs, advanced hand-tracking controllers, haptic feedback, and much more. How will this impact work? With time, it is justified to expect that Meta will have as pervasive an impact on our work lives as Facebook’s many services and social philosophy.
Meta’s Role in Unified Communications and Collaboration
There are five ways in which Meta will influence UC through its flagship product, the metaverse.
Revolutionising remote collaboration
One of the main problems of remote collaboration right now, is that it is an extremely low touch experience. Communication is mostly asynchronous and there is none of the intimacy that we’d experience face-to-face. Meta will transform remote work by allowing collaborators to be present in the same virtual space, at the same time, and go through the same files like a real-world office. Meta is already partnering with UC companies like Zoom to bring sophisticated whiteboarding into the metaverse.
Opening up new frontiers in interoperability
One of the defining traits of the metaverse is that it is converged and interoperable. In other words, multiple companies cannot have their own metaverses. There’s only one metaverse – the metaverse – and even if it is built by Meta (Facebook), it will remain completely decentralised. This singular metaverse will bring together multiple apps and services through seamless interoperability so that employees can teleport to and from spaces to complete tasks.
Dramatically shrinking hardware dependency
Meta’s newest innovations will also have a visible impact on the UC hardware market. Meeting room systems, in particular, could see a dent if more teams shift to collaboration in VR. Meta’s VR collaboration app Horizon Workrooms can already support up to 16 participants in VR and an additional 34 participants via video calling. You can create complex whiteboard diagrams, and soon, Meta will enable 3D visualisation, modelling, and data analysis to further reduce dependence on traditional systems.
Addressing video conferencing fatigue
In March, we reported that 74% of UK employees are worried about the risks of returning to work, but 47% are also struggling with Zoom fatigue. Meta offers a solution that avoids the hygiene risks of a physical workplace while addressing the cognitive stressors associated with video conferencing. For example, meeting participants no longer have to observe a real-time view of themselves when speaking – they can finally participate in first-person perspective.
Enabling new ways of workplace engagement
The role of Meta will be far-reaching, and it will impact various workplace interactions like employee development/learning, employee engagement events, new hire onboarding, and other internal communication use cases. Soon, it will be possible to establish an entire office campus in VR that acts as an alternative to your physical workplace for employees opting to WFH.
Key Features of Meta to Remember
During the rebranding, Meta announced the following key features and capabilities that will shape its future directions:
- Mixed and augmented reality – Experiences that blur the line between physical and digital to help transition in and out of VR
- Meta Horizon Workrooms – A collection of collaboration tools and customisable rooms for virtual meetings
- VR calling – Facebook Messenger calls that can switch to VR mode seamlessly
- The Presence Platform for developers – A set of developer tools to build immersive experiences for Meta Quest
- Meta Quest for Business – A Quest software package that can be accessed via your Work Account for enterprise use cases
- Desktop and peripheral streaming – The ability to use your real-world keyboard and mouse in VR (five keyboards currently supported)
- Project Cambria – A sleek and lightweight VR headset slated for release next year, at a premium price bracket
- Project Aria – AR glasses that capture real-world data from a first-person perspective for academic research, eventually intended to power smart glasses with contextualised intelligence
When Can You Start Levering Meta for Workplace Communication?
Some of the elements of Meta’s new value proposition are already available for use. For instance, you can start using Horizon Workrooms today for VR collaboration and whiteboard. Some of the developer tools are also available as part of an early release of the Presence Platform. Over the next few years, Meta will gradually flesh out its VR value proposition for business and consumer use, eventually culminating in the metaverse by 2031.
