At the end of June 2021, Mark Zuckerberg made an ambitious announcement to the public. He announced that Facebook wants to leave behind the boundaries of its existence as a provider of interconnected apps and social media in the future. Something much more comprehensive is to emerge, something that is capable of fundamentally changing our lives, namely the metaverse.
On October 28, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg announced the renaming of "Facebook, Inc." to "Meta Platforms, Inc." and explained this with the intention of building the metaverse, in which Meta will certainly play a central role.
What the metaverse is, whether it is even possible, desirable and more than just a bit of pep talk to lift the mood of employees and investors is what we want to think about below.
tl;dr: If you already know what the metaverse is and what to expect from it in general, you can skip straight to the "What does the metaverse mean for HR?" section.
According to its proponents, the metaverse is the logical evolution of the internet. It is a synchronous, virtual 3D world in which (unlike today) an unlimited number of people can participate in the form of avatars. They all have a real-life experience of the virtual world in real time.
This simulation represents a user experience that:
The transition between metaverse and reality should be fluid and made possible by virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality glasses - as well as a variety of as yet undeveloped sensors and other technologies.
However, Zuckerberg, Epic/Fortnite CEO Sweeney and Matthew Ball are certain that this will be a lengthy process rather than a sudden disruption.
The concept behind the metaverse is already a few decades old. It is already recognizable to some extent in the film "Tron", the "Neuromancer" trilogy by William Gibson and the novel "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline.
However, the term "metaverse" (as well as the term "avatar" in this context) was first coined in 1992 in the novel "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson. There it already describes what is also understood by it today (see above). The metaverse in the novel has become necessary because the surrounding reality has become dystopian, confusing and unbearable. This fact is usually ignored by today's advocates of the metaverse.
The concept behind the metaverse is already a few decades old. It is already recognizable to some extent in the film "Tron", the "Neuromancer" trilogy by William Gibson and the novel "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline.
However, the term "metaverse" (as well as the term "avatar" in this context) was first coined in 1992 in the novel "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson. There it already describes what is also understood by it today (see above). The metaverse in the novel has become necessary because the surrounding reality has become dystopian, confusing and unbearable. This fact is usually ignored by today's advocates of the metaverse.
In any case, it has ignited the imagination of the tech community and left a lasting mark - in the eyes of some, a fantasy of rich white kids enraptured away from reality.
Facebook/Meta is certainly the company that is most determined to build the metaverse. For some time now, they have been trying to expand the possibilities of the Internet in this direction. But other companies have also tried to take steps in the direction of the metaverse.
Second Life, launched in 2003, is one such example. Avatars move around in this highly complex 3D world, which users can design themselves. It has already been used for virtual conferences and at times it was possible to own property in Second Life. The currency used in the game, the Linden Dollar, can be converted into US dollars and euros.
Fortnite, on the other hand, has a game mode in which players can create their own worlds and avatars. Concerts were also organized there in individually designed worlds, pop music albums were released and film releases and products were advertised. In general, multiplayer games, especially Fortnite, can be seen as a kind of proto-metaverse.
With the Microsoft HoloLens, Microsoft offers mixed reality glasses that can be used with the Windows Mixed Reality platform.
Plots of land can be purchased in Decentraland, which was founded in 2015 and went online in February 2020. The first virtual music festival has already been held there and a first shopping district is also under construction.
As Zuckerberg describes it, the metaverse spans the entire breadth of the reality-virtuality continuum. Augmented reality/mixed reality glasses are intended to enable a seamless transition between the metaverse and physical reality. In this way, the entire spectrum of this continuum can be viewed. Among other things, this should make it possible to blend digital objects into the real environment.
And VR glasses can be used to visit the different worlds of virtual reality. It should be possible to switch from the real office to a virtual one and from there, for example, to a virtual gaming world or to a distant location to attend a virtual concert.
The metaverse should simply contain everything. From the remote job that we spend in the metaverse, we should then be able to switch seamlessly to a gaming world, a virtual or real concert or our virtual home.
In our virtual home, our respective virtual clothes or various avatars tailored for specific tasks hang on the virtual clothes rail.
Of course, we hope that the real world doesn't become so terrible that we HAVE to take refuge in a virtual version. We would also like to be able to choose whether we stay in real life or in the metaverse.
But even in a still relatively intact world like ours, there may be reasons to move into the metaverse. Facebook has launched Horizon as a preliminary stage of the metaverse. There is:
In other words, in the Metaverse the same things happen as in reality, only without borders and distances. As Meta also has a cryptocurrency in its portfolio alongside VR goggles manufacturer Oculus, the Group is already well positioned as it has occupied many sections of the value chain with its own products.
In this context, NFTs may gain more than just esoteric value. After all, they can be used to prove ownership of virtual real estate, virtual clothing and your own avatar, hopefully.
As a minimal foretaste, Facebook Messenger will be integrated into virtual reality this year. All participants will then need to do is invest 500 to 800 euros to purchase VR glasses and use Facebook Chat in virtual reality.
Zuckerberg himself admits that there is still a lot missing from a functioning metaverse. Among other things, he notes the lack of
Zuckerberg does not make any overly specific statements about how all this is to be financed. He often uses the unspecific "we" in his descriptions of the brave new world of the metaverse - as we encounter often in the speeches of politicians. Thus it remains who exactly is meant by this “we”: Facebook/Meta, other companies, all of humanity or some intersection or subset of these.
And Zuckerberg emphasizes: "We will work with anyone who can help bring the metaverse to life." (So, certainly also with the military, the intelligence community and companies like Cambridge Analytica).
But the technical side of all this will still require a lot of work. Because it mainly consists of wishes for the future.
For the metaverse to be truly all-encompassing and deliver everything its advocates promise, the hardware and software used must be interoperable. However, the necessary standards do not yet exist.
However, both Zuckerberg and Sweeney emphasize how important it is that the metaverse is based on open standards. This is because the main feature of the metaverse is that everything really has a place in it and is interoperable, that users can switch from one world and from one function to another and from one provider to another, with all connected devices working smoothly together. This is not possible without open standards. Because no single player has enough resources to drive the necessary developments forward on its own.
Epic/Fortnite CEO Sweeney also refers to Metcalfe's Law, which states that the value of a telecommunications network increases in proportion to the square of the number of connected users. This means that the metaverse only becomes really valuable if ALL users and producers participate.
For this to happen, the companies involved would have to adopt an attitude of enlightened egoism. It is characterized by the fact that everyone pursues their own purposes, but also allows others to do so - including their direct competitors. However, such an attitude is rare at best in a business driven by quarterly figures.
If an avatar is to have lifelike facial expressions and gestures, there must be sensors on the user's body that pick up the corresponding data. Meta is working on a type of data glove that apparently receives neural impulses on the wrist and derives the corresponding hand movements from them.
But that is all that is currently available. What is missing are essentials such as
Zuckerberg himself assumes that it will take at least a decade to develop the technologies required to build a smoothly functioning metaverse.
In order for millions of participants to have a user experience in which they can seamlessly switch between virtual and physical reality and see all objects displayed in the correct size and perspective at all times, computers must become many times more powerful than they are now.
Video streaming alone causes enormous energy costs. The more or less photorealistic 3D simulation of millions of people and their activities is likely to require many times more. The question of how this is supposed to work in the context of decarbonization and the transition to cleaner energy is a topic not touched on by the propagandists of the metaverse.
Of course, participants must have a reliable and powerful internet connection to use the Metaverse. This means that it will probably not be possible to take part in the Metaverse in the notoriously poorly connected German countryside. The avatars of poor people and rural dwellers will probably be recognizable by their jerky, flickering black and white graphics.
It will certainly be possible at some point to hold a job interview in a virtual environment. How realistic this is perceived to be depends not only on the technology, but also on the goodwill of the people involved.
Conferences and training courses are also conceivable in which employees of international companies can take part, even if they are located at completely different ends of the globe. This is undoubtedly an appealing idea.
For now, however, the most important news for HR is that Meta Platforms, Inc. wants to create 10,000 jobs in Europe for highly qualified tech specialists. What sounds like a boon, of course, also means a worsening of the skills shortage for the most qualified software and hardware developers. The Group is taking advantage of the favorable economic environment in Europe with its many universities and efficient tech locations. At the same time, Meta Platforms, Inc. has an interest in involving Europe in its development at an early stage in order to tap into it as a market.
This job offensive therefore exacerbates the shortage of skilled workers on the one hand, but perhaps also stimulates this specific part of the labor market in Europe.
At the same time, the decisive advancement of the metaverse should lead to the emergence of suitable job profiles:
But one thing seems certain at the moment: many members of Generation Z and the next generation are already living in one of the digital worlds that will one day make up the metaverse. They are unlikely to have any significant resistance to making the metaverse their virtual workplace.
The metaverse is certainly one of the targets, one of the fantasies, that the markets need to escape falling prices and the ever-looming overproduction crisis. After all, few things are as tempting for stock market traders as the biggest deal of the coming decades.
But much remains to be seen: How much effort will companies have to put in to participate in the metaverse? How open will the metaverse ultimately be? After all, the commitments to openness and interoperability still have to be substantiated and proven through concrete action.
Moreover, all those who are enthusiastic about the idea of the metaverse and see great opportunities in it would do well to curb their enthusiasm a little. After all, the renaming of "Facebook, Inc." to "Meta Platform, Inc." could just as well be a PR stunt by which Facebook wants to do damage control in a crisis situation and spread good vibes among investors and politicians.
This interpretation of the rebranding as an ad hoc measure that was not particularly well prepared is supported by the fact that there was already a company called Meta that is now suing Meta Platforms, Inc. for infringement of its trademark rights.
One thing is certain: in many places in rural Germany, it will probably not be possible to use the Metaverse due to a lack of broadband connections. At least if nothing fundamental changes before then.
But when the time finally comes, metru will be ready to seize the opportunity and offer modern, innovative HR services with value in the context of the metaverse.
This post was first published in January 2022 in our previous Recruiter Blog.
%201new.png)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
