Mark Zuckerberg and his company Meta have been shifting their focus away from their once promising project to build a functioning set of products for the metaverse. According to a recent report from The Information, the company is no longer attempting to bring in advertisement partners for this venture. Instead, the company is incentivizing the use of its short-form video product Reels while also investing in various AI tools to help marketers.
This shift in direction is likely due to the company’s current “Year of Efficiency”, where Meta is attempting to cut costs by laying off over 20,000 employees over the last six months. The shift towards these AI tools could help Meta short-term, but it’s a far cry from their previous ambitions. Last October, Zuckerberg declared that spending on the metaverse and Reality Labs, the division responsible for its development, would only increase.
Meta is not only incentivising the use of Reels but also encouraging marketers to use its Advantage+ program which uses machine learning to tie together its various social products. It is also investing in generative AI tools that aid in marketing campaigns. An employee of Meta mentioned that these types of moves could be returning short-term gains for the company.
Meta is a social media giant, founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin. The platform has since expanded worldwide, becoming the leading online platform in many countries. As technology has advanced, so have their products, with their most recent advancement bringing us face to face with the metaverse.
Mrs. Zuckerberg is one of the most influential figures in the world of technology, business and social media. After attending Harvard University, he created the social media platform Facebook, which has since become a sensation with over 2.7 billion users globally. He was instrumental in bringing the metaverse to life, and also had the vision to renaming his company after it. He remains on the cutting-edge of technology, and is always looking for ways to be more efficient and innovate.
