On Thursday night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg joined ex-MMA commentator and TV host Joe Rogan on his show, The Joe Rogan Experience. At the same time, the Zuck opened up about what being the head of one of the world's largest companies was like. He told Rogan that interacting with his community is like waking up and being punched in the stomach.
When he wakes up, he looks at his phone and sees millions of messages on the screen. It is usually bad. People will let me know the good things in person.
That statement has a lot of meaning. If it isn't news about how Facebook is collecting or abusing user data, then his feed is likely to be negative for his early metaverse, Horizon Worlds. Since there aren't enough hours in the day, he doesn't use Facebook as much as he would like. He said that Meta spent $5 billion on community integrity work.
This aspect of running a company with a business model that depends so much on user data, particularly selling targeted ads to those customers all while keeping them riveted to the platform, is something that is not good for a company. I didn't get into this to judge those things, that's part of what I've struggled with. I wanted to design technology that would help people connect.
This is the place where the metaverse comes into the picture. The company's new virtual reality headset is due to be released in October during the company's conference. Eye and face tracking will be included in the new headset. These features are supposed to replicate facial expressions in real time.
The Zuck told Rogan that Meta's glasses are a long way off. He didn't say if the headset will be the company's coveted Project Cambria, which was reported in a July report as the "Meta Quest Pro"
It seems like part of the reason Meta is trying to champion the idea of a metaverse that lets users exist inside a shared environment is because Zuck realized how alienating social media tech is. When he is on a video call, he doesn't feel like he is with someone else. Virtual reality convinces your brain that you are there. The act of actively engaging with people is important to him.
Federal agencies have challenged him over whether he is trying to corner the market or not. He loves the idea of the metaverse so much that he brought up a new talking point to Rogan, that the metaverse would let you work in a big company without having to relocate to a city that didn't have your values. It is an interesting point that the head of the California-based company is making. People avoid San Francisco for a variety of reasons.
It's similar to how Musk complained about "lib" states after moving his operations to Texas.
The birdhouse is going through a blowback over years of alleged substandard security measures thanks to an ex-security head turned whistle blower. "We didn't do that, and Meta only shared a limited portion of that story." He compared the two sites, saying that while he is upset with Twitter, it's not as bad as the other site. He isn't blowing up his inbox over Meta's attempts to turn the photosharing app into TikTok.
While Rogan sat back for most of the discussion, he also recognized the difficulties faced by social media platforms in rooting out misinformation.
Rogan is a controversial figure even when he strikes a moderate figure in an interview. The TV host turned world's most popular podcastser has been called out for spreading Covid misinformation and for making racist comments, so much so that they took down 70 episodes of the show.
It would be interesting to know the release date of a virtual reality headset by him before other people. Even after the controversy, the high subscriber numbers have remained the same. According to Morning Consult, Rogan might have a fan in the Zuck, as his listeningship leans to the right. In the latest episode of the show, Zuckerberg talked about his love of early morning workouts, as well as his admiration for jiu-jitsu and MMA.
Regardless of the real answer, the controversy for either figure is likely to continue.
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