On Wednesday, the news came that the company Facebook, which owns Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, among other things, will change its name.
- Facebook has had a bit of bad pressure lately.
There has been a lot of talk about their internal statistics, about the fact that many girls feel bad on Instagram about their body image.
So I think they are trying to shift focus and talk about great future news, says Effie Karabuda.
The name change has been preceded by the company's major investment in a meta-versum, ie a virtual world where users should be able to do basically everything they do in their everyday lives - but digitally.
”Mer sci-fi”
- Metaverse is a digital reality.
You can say that you do the same things as you do in real life, ie shop, hang out with friends and work, says Effie Karabuda.
Facebook is not unique with the idea of a metaversum.
For example, Epic games and Microsoft are making similar ventures.
The difference between metaversum compared to, for example, today's internet shopping may be that it feels more real.
- You have a small avatar, which is a figure of yourself.
And this meta-verse is often used in conjunction with a VR headset.
So it's probably more sci-fi, says Effie Karabuda.
"Do not think young people care"
About 80 percent of Sweden's internet users have Facebook.
But Effie Karabuda believes that the new meta-summary can make it difficult to attract a younger target group.
- I do not think so many children and young people hang out on Facebook.
Or even care.
I think they will be a little skeptical, she says.
When Facebook's metaversum becomes a reality remains to be seen.
- It will probably take 10-15 years.
They will work on this for the next five years with ten thousand engineers, says Effie Karabuda.