In just about a year, Facebook-turned-Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse vision has cost his company upwards of $15 billion, cratering value and — at least in part — triggering mass company layoffs. That's a high price tag, especially when the Facebook creator has shockingly little to show for it, both in actual technology and public interest.
Indeed, it seems that every time Zuckerberg excitedly explains what his currently-legless metaverse will one day hold, he's met with crickets — and a fair share of ridicule — at the town square. Most everyone finds themselves looking around and asking themselves the same question: who could this possibly be for, other than Zucko himself?
That question, however, doesn't really seem to matter to the swashzuckling CEO, who's either convinced that the public wants and needs his metaverse just as much as he does, or is simply just convicted to the belief that one day people will finally get it. After all, he's bet his company on this thing and needs the public to engage to stay financially viable long-term.
And sure, points for conviction. But conviction is easy if you're surrounded by a bunch of yes men — which, according to Vanity Fair, the founder unfortunately is. And with $15 billion down the line, that may not bode well for the Silicon Valley giant.
"The problem now is that Mark has surrounded himself with sycophants, and for some reason he's fallen for their vision of the future, which no one else is interested in," one former Facebook exec told Vanity Fair. "In a previous era, someone would have been able to reason with Mark about the company's direction, but that is no longer the case."
Given that previous reports have revealed that some Meta employees have taken to marking metaverse documents with the label "MMA" — "Make Mark Happy" — the revelation that he's limited his close circle to people who only agree with him isn't all that shocking. He wants the metaverse, he wants it bad, and he's put a mind-boggling amount of social and financial capital into his AR-driven dream.
While the majority of his many thousands of employees might disagree with him — Vanity Fair reports that current and former metamates have written things like "the metaverse will be our slow death" and "Mark Zuckerberg will single-handedly kill a company with the metaverse" on the Silicon Valley-loved Blind app — it's not exactly easy, or even that possible, to wrestle with the fact that you may have made a dire miscalculation this financially far down the road.
And if you just keep a close circle of people who just agree with you, you may not really have to confront that potential for failure. At least not for a while.
The truth is that Zuckerberg successfully created a thing that has impacted nearly every single person on this Earth. Few people can say that. And while it can be argued that the thing he built has, at its best, created some real avenues for connection, that same creation also seems to have led to his own isolation, in life and at work.
How ironic it is that he's marketed his metaverse on that same promise of connection, only to become more disconnected than ever.
READ MORE: "Mark Has Surrounded Himself with Sycophants": Zuckerberg's Big Bet on the Metaverse Is Backfiring [Vanity Fair]
More on the Meta value: Stock Analyst Cries on Tv Because He Recommended Facebook Stock
The post Former Facebook Exec Says Zuckerberg Has Surrounded Himself With Sycophants appeared first on Futurism.
Originally posted here:
Former Facebook Exec Says Zuckerberg Has Surrounded Himself With Sycophants
- Hang onto your hats--More Redheads RFL Shopping 🙂 - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Why I Relay -- from Daaneth Kivioq - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Two Upcoming Events! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- We had fun AND ... - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Why I Relay -- from Edith Halderman & Envy Watts - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Toga! Toga! We had fun and raised 5k for RFL! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- "Duel of the DJ's" --THIS Sunday, April 19 at 1pm - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Dressing for Relay Events... Lag in Style! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- "Duel of the DJ's" -- TODAY Sun, April 19 at 1pm - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Relay Shopping Made Easy! Our Very Own Store! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- We have a winner! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Not to Miss! Frogg & Jaycatt Saturday at 1pm SLT - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Thank You Frogg, Jaycatt, Lomgren and Luskwood! GO RELAY! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Upcoming Events in Redhead-land - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- In Memory of ... Lachlan Campbell - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- More Goodies in Our RFL Store - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The BIG Blowout Event! 12-3pm SLT Tomorrow! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ONE WORLD, ONE HOPE! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- We miss you Fimi! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Redheads Know How To Partay!!! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- We had a BALL! And the SILENT AUCTION continues... - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- RenFaire! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Rocking With Yahshvah Shinja - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- WOW! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- What a weekend that was! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- 2010 Blog! - April 4th, 2010 [April 4th, 2010]
- Brian Scalabrine - The World's Greatest - Video - March 29th, 2012 [March 29th, 2012]
- Red strength hint in caution notice - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Emma Roberts turns heads at Coachella - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Cartoon of the Day: Chelsea's battered bus leaves Terry behind and heads for Munich after rolling over Barcelona - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Kaskade Heads Out On 'Freaks Of Nature' Tour, Gives Us Full-Body Chills (VIDEO) - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Red shirts divided over Prem meet - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Snobby Mr. Douchey - Ep: 6 - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Ep. 3 MALLSCAPADE: Squaresville (A new free web show about growing up bored in the suburbs) - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- My Sisters: Problematic to Practically Perfect - Ep: 2 - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Backstage Girls- Episode 2: Bobby Brown's Every Little Step - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Red Heads for Red Heads with Cornelia Frances for The Orangutan Project - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- More Theatre of Life: Gay Witchcraft - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Asian Red Head - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Red Devils baseball team wins play-in game vs. North Sevier, heads to 2A tourney - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Ask Nick: Is something wrong with Gonzalez? - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Red Bluff Lady Spartans blast Lassen 13-0 - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Camelot heads 2,000 Guineas field - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Tech baseball heads to College Station for final time - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Joe Stortini heads list of local all-state basketball players - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- 'White Rabbit, Red Rabbit' review: never the same - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- Red sea of Clippers fans lifts team to win - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- Reynolds and Hammel carry Orioles past Red Sox 8-2 - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- Gillard, Abbott promote Red Cross - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- The Duchess of Cambridge turns heads with glamorous cream dress - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Royals 4, Red Sox 3: Two out of three is bad - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- The power of a sign - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Met Ball 2012 Red Carpet: Stars Shine In Metallic Frocks - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Morning Mail: Red Sox fan wears bag on head, starts social media storm - May 13th, 2012 [May 13th, 2012]
- 'Food Truck Wars' heads for Monmouth Park - May 13th, 2012 [May 13th, 2012]
- Obama to talk mortgages in Reno, Romney heads to North Carolina, plus more to watch for this weekend in politics - May 13th, 2012 [May 13th, 2012]
- Losing heads while salmon fishing - May 13th, 2012 [May 13th, 2012]
- West Ottawa boys track & field wins stunning relay at OK Red meet - May 13th, 2012 [May 13th, 2012]
- Sexy Redheads - Video - May 13th, 2012 [May 13th, 2012]
- Red Sox Look to Build Momentum Against Mariners: Fan Preview - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Red-cockaded woodpecker gets care and protection in Alabama (with video and gallery) - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Beckett takes Red Sox from Fenway to Bushwood - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Greek uncertainty leaves US stocks in red - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Greece Heads Toward New Elections - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- On Soccer: Red Bulls rise to top of Eastern Conference with help from trio of young American defenders - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Frankel heads Lockinge confirmations - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Kevin Spacey heads to South Africa for movie project premiere - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Red Poppy brings new voices to art scene - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Gold Heads Into The Red In 2012 - May 17th, 2012 [May 17th, 2012]
- Betty White heads to Washington to see the animals - May 17th, 2012 [May 17th, 2012]
- Outdoors: Losing your heads against fishing rules - May 17th, 2012 [May 17th, 2012]
- Betty White heads to nation's capital to see National Zoo, indulge passion for animal watching - May 17th, 2012 [May 17th, 2012]
- Canadian wave heads to Cannes Film Festival - May 17th, 2012 [May 17th, 2012]
- Pippa Middleton Wears Sexy Red Dress at Scottish Wedding - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Touchdowns for a cure - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- TSX heads higher; Facebook shares rise after delayed start of trading - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Woman heads to Uganda to bring cheer to children - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- World Premiere of Disney•Pixar’s “Brave” Heads to Hollywood for Grand Opening of the Dolby Theatre - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Toronto stock market heads higher amid cautious buying at end of bruising week - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Red Bluff brings home 11th section title; McColpin throws shutout vs. Wolves - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]