Meta, the metaverse company that includes Facebook and Instagram as products under its umbrella, has announced Meta Avatars which you can use to replace yourself during video calls. The company dubs this the third option between camera-off and camera-on calls, for when you want to feel more present, but not entirely for whatever reason.
As for where you can use these Meta Avatars, the company says these are available on Messenger and Instagram, on both Android and iOS. Not on WhatsApp though. Instead, the texting app, alongside the main Facebook app, will be the testbed for a new feature that lets you create avatars with a live selfie. The company says that this will be a long-term process, with the feature being refined and improved over time. With that in mind, chances are the first few avatars you make probably won’t be the best ones that you keep.
Still with avatars, Meta is adding animated avatar stickers to Instagram, Facebook Stories and Reels, comments and messages on Messenger and Instagram. These look pretty gaudy, though the option is there for those who absolutely need that added personalised touch to their GIFs.
All these avatar-related features gives the impression that Meta is trying to make more use of them as they are being developed for the metaverse. Which is fair, as if these features can be used elsewhere, no sense in keeping them contained in something that’s not ready for public consumption. All that being said, it does feel like all these will be the most we’ll see of the metaverse for the forseeable future.
(Source: Meta)
