October 28, 2022, marked the one year anniversary of Facebook’s rebranding to Meta and the launch of its flagship Metaverse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted his version of the metaverse as a gateway into web3 where people can experience virtual reality like never before, but many have rightly criticized Zuckerberg's vision.

Meta Platforms

On October 28, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg officially announced that his company, Facebook, had established Meta Platforms and changed its name to Meta. The new venture would lead the way in building the metaverse, a virtual world where people are represented by their individual avatars that can interact in such ways as working, gaming and even dating.

Two subsidiary enterprises buttress the grand vision: Oculus, a VR headset manufacturer now owned by Meta, and Horizon Worlds, an online gaming ecosystem built by Meta. 

Two days after the announcement, Meta released a video of Mr. Zuckerberg giving his keynote speech from ‘inside the metaverse.’ The video showed the CEO himself interacting with other avatars in work environments and social engagements. 

Since then, Meta has released more of the graphics from their metaverse, a feature that has caught the ire of many who have criticized its low quality.

In an interview with The Verge, Mr. Zuckerberg said that many people are excited to work on the metaverse, before admitting that “on the other hand I do think it just sets up for a trough of disillusionment at some point because it is a vision that is far out”.

Source: The Verge

What went wrong

Consumers, shareholders, and even Meta employees have characterized Mr. Zuckerberg’s new mission as being disorganized and confusing. Brad Girstner, CEO Altimeter Capital, a Meta investor, wrote in a recent open letter that the company has “lost the confidence of investors.” 

Mr. Gerstner cited the company’s stock price and P/E ratio as two main factors that led to his disillusionment with the company. First, Meta stock has nosedived 55% over the last 18 months and second, the profit-to-earnings ratio has been cut nearly in half from 23x to 12x during the same time period.

In short, consumers, employees and investors simply do not understand where Mr. Zuckerberg is going with Meta because the goal is too broad and not well-defined.

Aptos Labs emerges

Also frustrated with the direction of Meta Platforms, several ex-Meta employees banded together and launched Aptos Labs. The Aptos community is made up of developers and engineers building out their own web3 ecosystem accessible to everyone. 

With Aptos, users can obtain their own personal .apt domain and buy and sell crypto with the native Petra wallet. The Aptos Explorer provides users with a sleek platform to show transaction data, blocks, and validator information. 

It’s safe to say that in comparison to Zuckerberg’s metaverse, the Aptos ecosystem is slimmed down, providing users with a more realistic touchstone from which to learn about the blockchain.

Zuckerberg’s path forward

As of now, it appears that overall Mr. Zuckerberg is positive and has clearly gone all in on his pursuit to build the metaverse. Nevertheless, there is much to be desired for a product that is still years away from major market adoption. In his letter, Mr. Gerstner recommended a three pronged approach so the company can realign:

1. Cut the number of employees by 20%;

2. Reduce capital expenditures by $5 billion;

3. Limit metaverse investments to $5 billion per year.

Mr. Zuckerberg and his C-suite team would do well to listen to their shareholders’ concerns. Their AI-centered approach to the metaverse has been solid, as has their acquisition of Oculus. However, the overall market need for Zuckerberg’s metaverse has to be quantified much better in order for Meta to succeed.