India To Play Huge Part In Building Metaverse: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg – Economic Times

Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said India is going to play a huge part in building the metaverse.

The company, formerly known as Facebook, changed its name in October to signal a shift to becoming an emerging computing platform focused on virtual reality from just being a social media giant.

“When we’re thinking about what the next generation is going to look like in terms of where all these creators and developers going to come from, who are going to really build the foundation of the metaverse I think it’s just obvious that India is going to be a huge part of that,” said Zuckerberg at Meta’s Fuel for India event on Wednesday.

In Zuckerberg’s vision, people will meet and communicate by entering virtual environments, whether they’re talking with colleagues in a boardroom or hanging out with friends in different corners of the world.

“India is the biggest country in the world that already uses the social media services that we use, on Facebook and WhatsApp, for sure, and Instagram is growing incredibly quickly,” he said. “And we just want to make sure that that we can basically do our part to continue unlocking this potential because I just think it’s getting the experiences that people build here are going to make people’s lives better all around the world. And I just think that that’s an awesome thing.”

Meta is hoping to double its social-media user base of more than 3 billion people globally, into an audience that will embrace immersive digital experiences.