Meta Launches Metaverse Experience in Africa
Meta Platforms Incorporated, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has launched its first Metaverse experience in Africa at a mixed-reality concert in Lagos, Nigeria.
The event, tagged #FlexNaija, introduced creators to a bold new world of possibilities in the Metaverse with three major entry points aimed at increasing the dynamism and versatility of the internet user experience.
The three entry points, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Avatars, and Augmented Reality, would open up creators to the future of social media by exposing them to expanding and monetising their content and leveraging on modern technology to increase engagement with their communities in the future.
Speaking with journalists at the event, the Communication Manager for Anglophone West Africa, Ms Oluwasola Obagbemi, noted that the decision to launch Africa’s Metaverse journey in Nigeria is strategic as Nigerian creators play a leading role in content creation in Africa and the world.
Obagbemi added that Meta birthed the campaign incubated earlier in the year to collaborate with creators to amplify the user experience of creators and their communities.
“This campaign started with an incubation where our team sat with top content creators in Nigeria across different fields to co-create. Metaverse is not something that would be built by Meta alone,” stated Obagbemi. “So, we are saying that creators should be the first in Nigeria to build and co-create.”
She added, “With NFTs, people can sell their digital collectibles, with Avatars people can have their own profile online, and then there is the augmented reality which some people call spark AR, with which people can connect with virtual reality.”