Facebook has been rebranded Meta. Many have suddenly become interested in the concept, though they do not know its exact contours. What matters is that some breakthrough innovation is arriving. And we must not miss out on it. People call it a successor to the mobile internet. It converges several emerging technologies. Zuckerberg calls it the next chapter for internet. Since the arrival of smart phone, a computer in our pocket, a decade ago, the arrival of metaverse would change far too many things. It may sound linear, and so be it. Millions of people around the world will hang out in metaverse.

A metaverse as a label conjures up an interactive game-like world with its own culture and economy. It could have its own currency and it could govern itself. It is a placeless, stateless system. It is a slippery concept.

Facebook too does not want to miss out such a world. It is staking a claim on it. Already Facebook has attained centrality in our lives, and would like to remain so in the next internet era.