Blockchain development and the innovations that follow its establishment have brought excitement and diverse leverage of decentralization in this digital era. Facebook’s announcement of rebranding to Meta caused another steer in the Metaverse space. Facebook boost to introduce a new to interact with others on the internet and navigate it.
The most prominent social media brand’s intention to be involved in the Metaverse development is making the future uncertain for individuals and institutions in the space. Regardless of retail efforts, we should expect big corporations to be involved in the significant development of Metaverse and its evolution.
But questions remain if the same issues we face from Facebook will be transferred to the Metaverse campaign. Or the social media giants will allow decentralization to take the center spot of the stage.
Cultivating a Monitored Digital Garden
Mark Zuckerberg—CEO and founder of Meta—announced at the Facebook Connect Conference last week that they are willing to invest up to $10 billion towards Metaverse development during the first year of announcement. They are eager to create an ecosystem wherein digital experiences and services that blend seamlessly with the real world. This signifies a new dawn for social connection.
One of the doubts surrounding the future of Metaverse due to the involvement of Facebook is examining how Facebook has failed many times on promising ease access for one of its products, Oculus products. Users are worried Facebook may not make Metaverse access easy with the case that happened with Oculus.
After all, products trial and testing is a way to keep engagement active on the platform and seclude competition from the whole scene. When you consider the need for Facebook to remit enough profits for its shareholders, you will agree that it is almost impossible for Facebook to grant absolute decentralizing power to the Metaverse ecosystem.
One significant advantage the Metaverse is bringing to the digital space is creating innovative ways for internet users to socialize and work online. This makes the Metaverse ubiquitous for internet-savvy members to interact to some extent.
Meanwhile, when you consider the recent “Facebook Files” released by the Wall Street Journal, there are different indications that Facebook is suffering from various issues and conducting some questionable business operations. An example is a big lawsuit against it, and the content moderation charge, and how Facebook is treating some users differently.
All these appear to be the opposite of Mark’s vision for his entry into the Metaverse space. Likewise, those documents reveal that Facebook is losing its game at the millennial end. And these are individuals that will likely engage the Metaverse technologies.
Also, on the same lane, Facebook’s announcement didn’t meet any excitement in the crypto space. It has received criticism from critics and has been labeled as “cancer to democracy.” The crypto community broadly shared this view in the Twitter space. This claim is saying “NO” to Meta with the belief that it will own a part of your digital identity and have more access to your data than before.
The Blockchain Leverage
The big expectation from blockchain is to become the core of technological developments and permeate the virtual space, and have easy navigation as the Web 2.0 internet gave such option. As a result, blockchain enhances digital identity across different spaces and makes digital avatars a persistent establishment.
But the Metaverse will be built based on the core features of blockchain. These features are censorship resistance, decentralization, unrestricted access, and security. Regardless of the development that may be happening in the space, current tech big names will look to participate in the blockchain infrastructure to enhance Metaverse development and incorporate it to create their image
But the Metaverse industry should grow by 13.1% for a few years, which is 1/3 of the blockchain technology sector’s growth until 2025. This may result in lots of financial rewards for early adopters.
Twitter is leading the space as one of the social media platforms to initiate the decentralized protocol for social media. Their entry into this space is via Bluesky. But the controversies surrounding Twitter and scrutiny are causing doubts in its claim to support the central tenets.
It is noteworthy to remember some countries do not allow Twitter to be operational in their lands. The same is happening to Facebook’s Novi wallet product. With this, there are a series of indications that corporate crypto projects will keep being rigorously scrutinized. As a result, there will be a decisive tussle between the project and progress for the social media company.
Wrap Up
The development of Metaverse is bringing us to a new dawn of social interaction and increasing participation from anywhere in the world. But the involvement of corporate giants and the resourcefulness of blockchain capacity makes it unclear if it is a new exploitation tool against the masses or the new promise for inclusive participation.
