Meta Wants to be "More Ruthless" than Even Facebook Was? Zuckerberg Management at its Most . . .
Meta wants to be more ruthless. It can't fall into its old habits.
Daniel Howley·Technology Editor
Sat, July 2, 2022 at 1:51 AM
Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told company employees that the social media giant’s already abysmal performance over the last year could get worse and that if they don’t think they can hit their own goals they should head for the door. Zuckerberg made his comments during Meta’s weekly employee Q&A session, according to Reuters, and said that he is raising expectations for workers and setting more aggressive goals.
Chief Product Office Chris Cox made similar statements in an internal memo seen by Reuters, saying that the company needed to “prioritize more ruthlessly.”
But Meta will need to be careful about how ruthlessly it actually operates. After all, its early motto of “move fast and break things” has come to haunt it in the years since it was accused of everything from losing user data to allowing hate speech and misinformation to flourish on its platforms.
And with an all out effort to rebound from its current lows, shares have been sliced in half year-to-date, Meta and Zuckerberg could be opening themselves up to larger unforeseen controversies down the line.
Meta has moved too fast before
Back when Meta was known as Facebook - though let’s face it, it still is - the company was known for continually building out its operations at an incredible pace. It created new timeline algorithms, provided more ways to interact with fellow users, enabled the use of individual user groups, and gave advertisers the ability to reach seemingly anyone they could ever hope to market their wares towards.
In this Oct. 25, 2019 photo Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York. Facebook employees are using Twitter to register their frustration over Zuckerberg's decision to leave up posts by President Donald Trump that suggested protesters in Minneapolis could be shot. On Monday, June 1, 2020 Facebook employees staged a virtual “walkout” to protest the company's decision not to touch the Trump posts according to a report in the New York Times, which cited anonymous senior employees at Facebook.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is trying to stem the company's bleeding amid a mix of ongoing hits to its bottom line. But if it's not careful, it could find itself lapsing into old habits that spawned a slew of controversies.
But that huge explosion in features helped create some of Meta’s largest controversies, including Cambridge Analytica, which saw a political consultancy hijack the data of millions of users to aid in the election of Donald Trump; a parade of data leaks; live streamed terror attacks, allegations of digital housing redlining, and accusations it violated antitrust laws.
And then, of course, there’s the competition from the likes of TikTok and Snap, which are drawing younger users away from Meta’s own platforms.
The Meta era is a bust so far
But it won’t be easy for Meta to turn things around. The company went all in on transitioning from a social networking business to a metaverse-first firm in Oct. 2021, when it announced it was changing its name from Facebook to Meta and focusing on bringing about a new metaverse platform and headsets.
But a disastrous mix of privacy changes to Apple’s iOS, the war in Ukraine, ongoing supply chain problems, and the broader economic slowdown have battered the company, sending its market valuation plummeting and shaking confidence in the tech giant.
Year-to-date, shares of Meta have plummeted more than 50%, collapsing from $338.54 to $158.15 shortly after markets opened in New York on Friday. That’s an outrageous drop compared to the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC), which is down 29% year-to-date, and the broader S&P 500 (^GSPC), which is down 20.5%.
Meta’s stock price is in a class all its own among tech giants, too. Even Amazon (AMZN), which reported losses per share of $7.56 in Q1, is doing better on the public markets, with shares down some 35%.
Zuckerberg is warning of great trouble ahead too, telling employees in his memo that the economic slowdown could be one of the worst downturns in recent history.
It doesn’t help that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) has kneecapped Meta’s ability to gather data on users across apps, making selling ads more difficult, or that supply chain problems and the war in Ukraine are hurting advertising budgets around the world.
As the company looks to apply a tourniquet to its wounded stock price, and grow at all cost, it will need to ensure it doesn’t fall into its old habits and set off a new round of controversies.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-wants-to-be-more-ruthless-it-cant-fall-into-its-old-habits-165110289.html?.tsrc=372
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Mark Zuckerberg lays out the future of Meta
Daniel Howley·Technology Editor
June 20, 2022·
Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg is betting his company’s future on the metaverse. And part of that multi-billion dollar wager will require Meta to pump out VR and AR headsets so powerful they can fool users into thinking computer-generated images are real.
In a virtual roundtable with reporters last week, Zuckerberg acknowledged it will take years for compact headsets to display photorealistic images. Still, Meta is making progress toward that goal, Zuckerberg said. “We have this long-term roadmap to basically solve all these different challenges, which we think are going to be critical to delivering this really rich sense of presence,” Zuckerberg explained. “We've solved some of the challenges already, and for others, there's still a lot of work to do in building these devices.”
Those challenges include ensuring that images in Meta's headsets look clear and in-focus, with realistic-looking colors. If Meta can do all of that, then its decision to transform itself into a metaverse-first company might truly pay off. If it can’t, though, the company formerly known as Facebook could fall apart.
Sharper displays an prototypes galore
Meta is pouring money into its metaverse efforts, spending $10 billion in 2021 on the project alone, up from $6.6 billion in 2020, and $4.5 billion in 2019. What’s more, Zuckerberg expects to continue plowing cash into the business over the next three to five years.
And what is that business exactly? The metaverse is loosely defined as a series of interconnected online worlds. One day, metaverse evangelists promise, you’ll be able to interact via AR and VR headsets, as well as smart displays, intelligent windows - really any kind of screen. But Meta is starting out with just AR/VR headsets for the time being.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a prototype of a future VR headset.
Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, says it will likely take 10-15 years before its investments fully pay off and the technology behind both the metaverse and its headsets reach their full potential. And getting there will require Meta to create new hardware that goes beyond its current headsets' capabilities.
During the roundtable last week, Zuckerberg showed off prototypes the company has developed and continues to work on. The CEO says Meta is working to improve image resolution, focus, and brightness; it's also working to minimize distortion.
“The human visual system is very complex, and it's deeply integrated. So you know, just seeing a realistic looking image isn't enough to make you feel like you're really there,” Zuckerberg said. “To get that feeling of immersion, you need all of the other visual cues. So this is a much more complex problem than just displaying a realistic-looking image on a computer screen or TV.”
Of course, it helps to have a realistic image. But modern headsets simply don’t offer the kind of image fidelity that can rival something like your average 4K TV. That’s because the closer you get to a display, the easier it is to see its pixels. And attaching a screen to your face is pretty close.
The result, when it comes to most modern headsets, is the so-called screen door effect, where you see lines between pixels that can make it look as though you’re seeing an image through a screen door. As a result, on-screen content loses its details and fine text becomes difficult to read.
Meta's Starburst prototype is designed to improve color quality by increasing a headset's brightness. But it's far from ready for consumers. (Image: Meta)
Meta, however, has created a prototype called Butterscotch that Zuckerberg says can reach resolutions high enough so you could read the bottom line on a virtual eye chart. The Meta Quest 2, its current headset, comes nowhere near that kind of clarity. But Butterscotch is still a large, unwieldy headset that’s not ready for the consumer market.
Beyond Butterscotch, Zuckerberg detailed prototypes including Meta’s Half Dome line of headsets that improve the overall focus of content you see in VR and AR, and a prototype called Starburst that the CEO says improves color quality by raising overall display brightness.
While the latest Half Dome prototype fits into a normal-sized headset package, Starburst is a massive beast requiring the user to hold the headset up to their face using two handles and two large fans to keep it cool.
While Meta is clearly investing big with prototypes like these, it's not the only company positioning itself for metaverse supremacy. Apple (AAPL) is reportedly building out its own VR/AR headset that could launch later this year or in early 2023. Microsoft (MSFT), meanwhile, has its own Hololens mixed reality headset.
It’s also still unclear how much uptake there will be in VR/AR headsets among consumers in the future, and whether the metaverse will pan out exactly as Meta hopes. Some experts have said the early hype around the concept and lack of game-changing products have turned consumers off.
Zuckerberg, however, seems dead-set on seeing his vision through. Now we’ll just have to wait to see if it pays off.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-lays-out-the-future-of-meta-140009379.html
Daniel Howley·Technology Editor
Sat, July 2, 2022 at 1:51 AM
Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told company employees that the social media giant’s already abysmal performance over the last year could get worse and that if they don’t think they can hit their own goals they should head for the door. Zuckerberg made his comments during Meta’s weekly employee Q&A session, according to Reuters, and said that he is raising expectations for workers and setting more aggressive goals.
Chief Product Office Chris Cox made similar statements in an internal memo seen by Reuters, saying that the company needed to “prioritize more ruthlessly.”
But Meta will need to be careful about how ruthlessly it actually operates. After all, its early motto of “move fast and break things” has come to haunt it in the years since it was accused of everything from losing user data to allowing hate speech and misinformation to flourish on its platforms.
And with an all out effort to rebound from its current lows, shares have been sliced in half year-to-date, Meta and Zuckerberg could be opening themselves up to larger unforeseen controversies down the line.
Meta has moved too fast before
Back when Meta was known as Facebook - though let’s face it, it still is - the company was known for continually building out its operations at an incredible pace. It created new timeline algorithms, provided more ways to interact with fellow users, enabled the use of individual user groups, and gave advertisers the ability to reach seemingly anyone they could ever hope to market their wares towards.
In this Oct. 25, 2019 photo Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York. Facebook employees are using Twitter to register their frustration over Zuckerberg's decision to leave up posts by President Donald Trump that suggested protesters in Minneapolis could be shot. On Monday, June 1, 2020 Facebook employees staged a virtual “walkout” to protest the company's decision not to touch the Trump posts according to a report in the New York Times, which cited anonymous senior employees at Facebook.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is trying to stem the company's bleeding amid a mix of ongoing hits to its bottom line. But if it's not careful, it could find itself lapsing into old habits that spawned a slew of controversies.
But that huge explosion in features helped create some of Meta’s largest controversies, including Cambridge Analytica, which saw a political consultancy hijack the data of millions of users to aid in the election of Donald Trump; a parade of data leaks; live streamed terror attacks, allegations of digital housing redlining, and accusations it violated antitrust laws.
And then, of course, there’s the competition from the likes of TikTok and Snap, which are drawing younger users away from Meta’s own platforms.
The Meta era is a bust so far
But it won’t be easy for Meta to turn things around. The company went all in on transitioning from a social networking business to a metaverse-first firm in Oct. 2021, when it announced it was changing its name from Facebook to Meta and focusing on bringing about a new metaverse platform and headsets.
But a disastrous mix of privacy changes to Apple’s iOS, the war in Ukraine, ongoing supply chain problems, and the broader economic slowdown have battered the company, sending its market valuation plummeting and shaking confidence in the tech giant.
Year-to-date, shares of Meta have plummeted more than 50%, collapsing from $338.54 to $158.15 shortly after markets opened in New York on Friday. That’s an outrageous drop compared to the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC), which is down 29% year-to-date, and the broader S&P 500 (^GSPC), which is down 20.5%.
Meta’s stock price is in a class all its own among tech giants, too. Even Amazon (AMZN), which reported losses per share of $7.56 in Q1, is doing better on the public markets, with shares down some 35%.
Zuckerberg is warning of great trouble ahead too, telling employees in his memo that the economic slowdown could be one of the worst downturns in recent history.
It doesn’t help that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) has kneecapped Meta’s ability to gather data on users across apps, making selling ads more difficult, or that supply chain problems and the war in Ukraine are hurting advertising budgets around the world.
As the company looks to apply a tourniquet to its wounded stock price, and grow at all cost, it will need to ensure it doesn’t fall into its old habits and set off a new round of controversies.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-wants-to-be-more-ruthless-it-cant-fall-into-its-old-habits-165110289.html?.tsrc=372
-------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Zuckerberg lays out the future of Meta
Daniel Howley·Technology Editor
June 20, 2022·
Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg is betting his company’s future on the metaverse. And part of that multi-billion dollar wager will require Meta to pump out VR and AR headsets so powerful they can fool users into thinking computer-generated images are real.
In a virtual roundtable with reporters last week, Zuckerberg acknowledged it will take years for compact headsets to display photorealistic images. Still, Meta is making progress toward that goal, Zuckerberg said. “We have this long-term roadmap to basically solve all these different challenges, which we think are going to be critical to delivering this really rich sense of presence,” Zuckerberg explained. “We've solved some of the challenges already, and for others, there's still a lot of work to do in building these devices.”
Those challenges include ensuring that images in Meta's headsets look clear and in-focus, with realistic-looking colors. If Meta can do all of that, then its decision to transform itself into a metaverse-first company might truly pay off. If it can’t, though, the company formerly known as Facebook could fall apart.
Sharper displays an prototypes galore
Meta is pouring money into its metaverse efforts, spending $10 billion in 2021 on the project alone, up from $6.6 billion in 2020, and $4.5 billion in 2019. What’s more, Zuckerberg expects to continue plowing cash into the business over the next three to five years.
And what is that business exactly? The metaverse is loosely defined as a series of interconnected online worlds. One day, metaverse evangelists promise, you’ll be able to interact via AR and VR headsets, as well as smart displays, intelligent windows - really any kind of screen. But Meta is starting out with just AR/VR headsets for the time being.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a prototype of a future VR headset.
Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, says it will likely take 10-15 years before its investments fully pay off and the technology behind both the metaverse and its headsets reach their full potential. And getting there will require Meta to create new hardware that goes beyond its current headsets' capabilities.
During the roundtable last week, Zuckerberg showed off prototypes the company has developed and continues to work on. The CEO says Meta is working to improve image resolution, focus, and brightness; it's also working to minimize distortion.
“The human visual system is very complex, and it's deeply integrated. So you know, just seeing a realistic looking image isn't enough to make you feel like you're really there,” Zuckerberg said. “To get that feeling of immersion, you need all of the other visual cues. So this is a much more complex problem than just displaying a realistic-looking image on a computer screen or TV.”
Of course, it helps to have a realistic image. But modern headsets simply don’t offer the kind of image fidelity that can rival something like your average 4K TV. That’s because the closer you get to a display, the easier it is to see its pixels. And attaching a screen to your face is pretty close.
The result, when it comes to most modern headsets, is the so-called screen door effect, where you see lines between pixels that can make it look as though you’re seeing an image through a screen door. As a result, on-screen content loses its details and fine text becomes difficult to read.
Meta's Starburst prototype is designed to improve color quality by increasing a headset's brightness. But it's far from ready for consumers. (Image: Meta)
Meta, however, has created a prototype called Butterscotch that Zuckerberg says can reach resolutions high enough so you could read the bottom line on a virtual eye chart. The Meta Quest 2, its current headset, comes nowhere near that kind of clarity. But Butterscotch is still a large, unwieldy headset that’s not ready for the consumer market.
Beyond Butterscotch, Zuckerberg detailed prototypes including Meta’s Half Dome line of headsets that improve the overall focus of content you see in VR and AR, and a prototype called Starburst that the CEO says improves color quality by raising overall display brightness.
While the latest Half Dome prototype fits into a normal-sized headset package, Starburst is a massive beast requiring the user to hold the headset up to their face using two handles and two large fans to keep it cool.
While Meta is clearly investing big with prototypes like these, it's not the only company positioning itself for metaverse supremacy. Apple (AAPL) is reportedly building out its own VR/AR headset that could launch later this year or in early 2023. Microsoft (MSFT), meanwhile, has its own Hololens mixed reality headset.
It’s also still unclear how much uptake there will be in VR/AR headsets among consumers in the future, and whether the metaverse will pan out exactly as Meta hopes. Some experts have said the early hype around the concept and lack of game-changing products have turned consumers off.
Zuckerberg, however, seems dead-set on seeing his vision through. Now we’ll just have to wait to see if it pays off.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-lays-out-the-future-of-meta-140009379.html