Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Zuckerberg has promised to invest $10 billion a year in metaversities over the next decade.
Faced with such a huge investment, how will Meta make money from the metaverse?
To find out, the Financial Times recently reviewed Meta's applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which point to two words: virtual reality and hyper-targeted advertising.
Turning an immersive world into a "reality"
Meta's multiple patented technologies point to the use of users' biometric data to enhance visual effects and ensure that their digital images have realistic animation effects.
Some of these patents relate to eye and face tracking technology, which collects changes in the face and pupils on headsets through tiny cameras or sensors to enhance the user's virtual reality experience.
Meta, for example, was granted a patent on a system for tracking users' facial expressions through headsets on Jan. 4, which adjust virtual content based on the user's reactions.
Another patent application shows that placing a "wearable magnetic sensor system" around the body can be used to track changes in "body posture." Sketches of the design platform Sketch show a user wearing the device but appearing as a soldier in virtual reality, wearing a sword and armor.
Another patent mentions an "avatar personalization engine" that can create 3D avatars using tools including a "skin replicator" based on a user's photo.
The Financial Times quoted a law reformer named Noelle Martin as saying: "The goal of Meta is to be able to simulate every pore, every strand of hair, every micro-movement of yours." He spent more than a year working with the University of Western Australia on Meta's Human Surveillance Programme.
"[Their] goal is to create 3D replicas of people, places, and things that are surreal and hypertactic, indistinguishable from real things." In fact, they are working on a global human cloning program. ”
Data – hyper-targeted advertising
At the same time, the patents also hint that Meta will make money in metaverses through hyper-targeted advertising and content sponsorship.
For example, create a "virtual store" where users can buy digital goods, or purchase items that correspond to real-world goods sponsored by brands.
Nick Clegg, Meta's head of global affairs, said in a recent interview with the Financial Times:
"For us, metacosmity's business model is business-driven." "Obviously, advertising plays a role in that."
According to a patent filed by Meta as early as 2020, personalized ads can be shown to users based on their age, gender, interests and interaction on social media.
Studies have shown that eye gaze orientation and pupil activity may imply information about the user's interests and emotional states, for example, if the user's eyes stay on the image, this may indicate that they like the image. At this time, patents that track users' pupils and facial expressions come in handy.
There is also a patent that allows third parties to "sponsor the look and feel of things" in a virtual store through a bidding process similar to the company's existing advertising auctions.
Still that familiar recipe and taste.
It is clear that Meta will provide more targeted advertising in its metaverse than existing web products through these patents.
Brittan Heller, a technical lawyer at the U.S. law firm Foley Hoag, questioned this: "My nightmare is that targeted advertising based on our involuntary biological responses will start to appear in the metaverse... Most people don't realize how important this is. There are currently no legal restrictions. ”
Meta said: "While we do not comment on the specific coverage of our patents or the grounds for filing a patent, it is important to note that our patents do not necessarily cover the technologies used in our products and services. ”
According to the Financial Times, there are also critics who suspect that the announcement of its entry into the metacosm was distracting from recent scrutiny after Frances Haugen, a former product manager at Meta, exposed Facebook last year.
"How will they handle more data and how will they keep it safe?" Celia Hodent, a former user experience director at game production company Epic Games and now an independent consultant, also raised questions.