Meta Releases a New Mission Statement Envisioning the Future of the Metaverse

Now that Facebook has officially changed its name to "Meta," CEO Mark Zuckerberg conducted an all-staff meeting to introduce the company's new values, which align with its new progressive approach to completely cement the company's transition into "Meta."

Since the 'Move Fast and Break Things' era, which spanned from 2009 to 2014, the company's value statements have been a main factor of its operational changes, with the more tranquil 'Move Fast with Stable Infrastructure' era being the most recent action plan for the company f For being connected with breaking stuff was not really a good idea to start with.

In 2017, Meta changed its mission statement to include the phrase "Make the world more open and connected," which didn't exactly reflect Zuck's vision. "Give them the power to establish community and bring the world closer together," he stated a year later, with the main point usually condensed to "Bring the world closer together."

It's the primary goal that Meta has been working towards ever since, even though there were plenty of individuals who didn't agree with that, considering how important the platform had been before the 2016 US election took place.

Nevertheless, with the new updates they're progressing towards, what could be Meta's new mission now?

The new initiative brings all of these previous drivers together into a single, cohesive set of rules.

• Move fast together

• Build awesome things

• Focus on long term impact

• Live in the future

• Be open

'Community' or 'building community' wasn't brought up here, as it emphasizes development particularly with the planned metaverse expansion.

Which, at least in a Meta-structured setting, is still in the works, and no one knows how it'll all come altogether. Metaverses have been around for some time, particularly in gaming, as such there's an expansive idea of what it's like to interact in a digital world that's based on real-world interactions.

However, Meta's vision will try to expand on what already exists while adding new aspects - making it difficult to say at this point if and how all these elements will come together, as well as what function Meta will play in the overall structure.

Quite a bit of what Meta has described as its concept of the metaverse is actually merely virtual reality, with user avatars immersed in completely digital environments.

Despite the fact that Meta's fully interactive VR environment is still a long way off, it looks fantastic. Nevertheless, if that is the goal that Meta is pursuing, it is certainly breaking new ground, with sales of its Quest 2 VR headsets increasing, and Meta acquiring VR studios and developers in order to gain a foothold in the market.

That doesn't necessarily mean that they include augmented reality, for which Meta is building new wearables and interactive devices, nor do they include other metaverse-related innovations like cryptocurrencies, NFTs, evolved AI and more.

Each of these various parts will certainly play a role, however, what's most remarkable is how Meta's re-branding has shifted so much focus to 'the metaverse' that every developer in any tech field is suddenly scurrying to add 'metaverse ready' to their tools and apps, despite not having any clue what it means.

As a result, the present discourse about Web3 and its components is premature, as no one knows how it will all fit together. All of the elements will have their own distinct characteristics, which must each be investigated in its own time and space. In fact, by describing things as "metaverse-aligned," you're essentially reinforcing the myth that Meta will control the Metaverse.

This is most certainly what Zuck and Co. want, but it's worth noting the company's current market power and how it affects how it positions itself for the next transition. To return to Meta's new values as it progresses into the next stage, we must consider its re-alignment with its new values of "moving fast."

To put it simply, we came back in some aspects to the old Facebook, with the greater emphasis now on creating new experiences and outperforming the competition in order to build a platform, which will see Meta's focus move back to community and social good, which Facebook ultimately shifted towards when it was large enough.

It did, however, turn too late when they came to it. By growing quickly, Facebook became more aware of the negative effects of its programs once they'd been established, which is when it pivoted to 'bringing the world closer together' and concentrating on community participation.

Will this also happen in the metaverse? Would Meta's new mission statement put a greater emphasis on 'moving fast' and 'creating fantastic things,' ignoring the possible repercussions and societal ramifications?

Perhaps the 'emphasis on long-term impact' note is there to counteract that, to offer developers more incentive to build with long-term consequences in mind, and hopefully safety in mind. It's unclear though, as the major push here appears to be rapid product development and heading towards the future.

In addition, there is 'Be Open,' a phrase Meta will surely use to emphasize its dedication to working with others to enhance its infrastructure. In actuality, it'll perhaps be seen internally as a way of creating systems for which others can develop as well, and Meta will end up hosting the metaverse's underpinnings.

Despite all the hype about "no one company owning the metaverse," it's becoming fairly obvious that one company will be the one to do it.

Last but not least, internally, Meta staff will now be addressed to as 'Metamates.'

Andrew Bosworth, the Chief Technology Officer of Meta, verified this and added additional insight on the terminology:

That's what Metamates is all about. Isn't it cool? In any case, it can't be any worse than 'Nooglers,' which was once regarded to be wonderfully clever and humorous by someone.