Business Insider Confirms My July 2021 Report of Meta's Muddled Metaverse Strategy

Here's what I wrote in July 2021 about Facebook/Meta's flagship metaverse platform project:

"I think Facebook has the money and people to throw at the problem," as they put it to me, "but making products as a large entity hasn't been one of Facebook's strong suits... it's been to acquire other products and integrate them into the Facebook ecosystem. With the average employee tenure being 2 years or so, and the need to expand teams at rapid rates, it's very difficult to make decisions and stick to a single vision because things are always changing."

Consequently, they go on, the Horizon team has been jumping haphazardly to the latest hot feature or platform:

"This [turnover] leads to teams at Facebook fast following on trends. You can see it when you look at Horizon and Rec Room, or when you listen to Instagram's new focus on video, referencing Tik Tok. So will they achieve the vision [Zuckerberg] paints? Maybe."

And here's what Business Insider just reported today:

 

The company is "messaging the hell out of" the new focus, "spinning up teams that are metaverse specific," including one that will reach across all groups within the company and be tasked with letting people know "there is a metaverse playbook," this person told Insider for a story delving into its big strategy pivot and current business struggles. 

Some staffers are still confused, though. "It's basically fomenting disorganization and anxiety," one current employee said. "People don't really seem to know what to deliver or what to work on because there is still no coherent strategy."

Emphasis mine! For the record, the Insider's source is definitely different from the one I cited last year. Perhaps the real concern is why, nearly a year later, a coherent strategy is still lacking.

Also relevant: Virtual World Vet Warned Meta About Avatar Harassment In The Metaverse Years Ago -- But Long-Known Best Practices Were Not Prioritized.

Comments

[Luther Weymann]

Virtual worlds are a novelty to humans, and they have a use curve that goes up as you find interest in the novelty, and then after some time, the use curve goes down as you lose interest. If the user gains an economic, social, or hobby from using a virtual world, the user will linger on the downside of the use curve until some event in their life ages them out of use. The virtual world's longevity relies on new members entering the use curve and old members sustaining their economic, social, or hobby interest. Gaming as a hobby and social texting seems to have attained the highest consistent user rates that Meta needs to consider. Second Life has excelled at the economic, social, and entertainment aspects, which is perhaps the most difficult to maintain users consistently.