By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 25th, 2024
In addition to halting the need for Facebook credentials, Meta is also changing its marketing strategy.
Meta (NASDAQ: FB) is gradually drawing a line between its virtual reality VR) vision and Facebook as it marches on with its metaverse ambition. The technology company is introducing a new way to make people log into their Meta Quest VR headsets without using their Facebook details. Announcing the development on the 7th of July, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that there would be Meta accounts by next month. This is the latest effort by Meta to separate its metaverse goal from Facebook, its main social media business.
“You won’t need a Facebook account to log into Quest starting next month. We’re rolling out new Meta accounts that you can use with our VR headsets instead. This will give everyone more choice about how you show up in the metaverse.”
Meta Separates Metaverse Ambitions from Facebook Business
Upon signing up for the new Meta accounts, users can access their Meta Quest VR headsets and see a history of their VR app purchases. Zuckerberg maintains that the metaverse business is in a different direction and is entirely different from its other business arms. However, Meta gets a substantial percentage of its revenue from Facebook and its subsidiary applications.
The CEO dreams of the metaverse involving a combination of virtual worlds accessible through VR and augmented reality (AR) technologies. He is confident that VR and AR headsets are the future of computing. According to the executive, about 1 billion users will be spending hundreds of dollars each in the metaverse in the near future.
Furthermore, Meta is making changes to its customer base of Quest VR users since it previously required them to use their Facebook accounts to use their headsets. As a result, Meta made another announcement to change course. The company said in another blog post:
“When we announced that we would start requiring people to log into Meta Quest using a Facebook account, we received a lot of feedback from the Quest community. We took that feedback into account as we designed a new Meta account structure that gives people flexibility and control.”
Meta Pushes on with Metaverse Vision
In addition to halting the need for Facebook credentials, Meta is also changing its marketing strategy. Users will begin to have Meta Horizon profiles instead of Oculus profiles. Customize will be able to customize their VR usernames, virtual avatars, and others using the Meta Horizon profiles. According to a Meta spokesperson, users need both a Meta account and a Meta Horizon profile before accessing the headsets.
Also, anyone who owns a Meta VR header will automatically have their Oculus friends as followers. The users will also be following their friends back by default. Meta is intense with the developments. It is also unveiling tools users can use to manage their privacy in VR. These tools will let users pick if they want to be private, open, or available to selected people.