The Metaverse

In its most recent earnings call on July 29, Facebook Inc. (FB, Financial) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects the social media platform to transition to a "metaverse" company. He said the company’s future is in the metaverse, a virtual social environment where people can be present in digital spaces. This is an embodied internet platform allowing people to play games, work and socialize using digital avatars and virtual reality technology. Virtual reality workspaces will be the company's first step into making the metaverse a reality. The company has been using Workrooms (VR workspace) for meetings internally for about six months, and on Aug. 19, Facebook introduced Horizon Workrooms to the public to showcase how it works.

Commenting on the launch of Horizon, Zuckerberg recently posted on his Facebook page:

“We just launched Horizon Workrooms – a new collaboration experience in virtual reality. When you use Workrooms, it feels like you’re really there with people. You’ll notice conversations flow more naturally and you’ll pick up social cues that are missing on video – people turning to listen to each other, hand gestures, and spatial audio to give everyone a sense of place in the room. There’s also a whiteboard for brainstorming together, a screen for people to video conference in, and virtual desktop so you can use your computer in VR for presentations or multitasking. In the future, working together will be one of the main ways people use the metaverse. Horizon Workrooms is one more step towards bringing the metaverse to life.”