The metaverse and the future of the internet

Is the metaverse the future of the internet? Here’s why Meta’s Naomi Gleit thinks it is, AR glasses, VR goggles and all.

With Meta recently laying off 13 percent of its staff, some are attributing part of its cost cutting to Mark Zuckerberg’s overly enthusiastic investment in the metaverse. An investment that has yet to pay off.

But while tech pundits bet on or against Meta’s fortunes, the company continues to develop its virtual reality tech – both in the form of virtual worlds and VR headsets.

In this episode of The Next Stage, Meta’s head of product Naomi Gleit discusses the company’s VR vision for the future, including a forecast – as she describes it – that it could be ten to 15 years before VR and AR technologies reach their full potential.

Some folks are sick of hearing about the metaverse, not least because it can be a nebulous term. Naomi has a clear vision.

“I like to define the metaverse as the future of the Internet,” said Naomi.

“If we experience the internet today in two dimensions when we look at it from our phone or our computer, in the future, I think we’ll experience the internet in three dimensions, and be in it, accessing it, from VR headsets or AR glasses.”

Journalist Harry McCracken asked a question on a lot of people’s minds: “What people don’t like, I think, is the idea that the metaverse will be owned and operated by Meta in a similar way that Facebook and Instagram are definitely owned and operated by Meta. Is it Meta’s goals to own and operate the metaverse?”

“Meta will not own the metaverse. I think no one company can own the metaverse in the same way that no one company owns the internet,” Naomi said definitively.

“And if we think of the metaverse as the future of the internet, there’s so many companies investing a lot in building out the metaverse. I think that’s really important that it becomes something that’s open, that is interoperable, and I think this is happening with or without Meta.”

Naomi Gleit, head of product, Meta was in conversation with Harry McCracken, global technology editor, Fast Company on Centre stage at Web Summit 2022.

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Main image of Naomi Gleit, head of product, Meta, talking on Centre stage at Web Summit 2022. Piaras Ó Mídheach/Web Summit