Facebook Horizon – the virtual world and “virtual marketnig”

Mark Zuckerberk in 2019 about the new Facebook Horizon proposal said that he gives a sense of the presence of another human being that no other platform can give. Will these words be prophetic and will FB Horizon be a breakthrough tool used in sales and marketing thanks to this “closeness”? What opportunities and threats can there be?

But it was already…

Creating an alternative world is an old theme and reheated from time to time in both cinematography and multimedia entertainment. In pop culture, the vision of computer created reality appeared, among others, in Martix, in the Polish-Japanese production Avalon from 2000, with Małgorzata Foremniak in the main role, or in the movie Player One from 2018. In the Black Mirror series, many episodes talked about the possibilities of such an invention. Starting from creating a simulation of matching pairs of lovers, and ending with the transfer of self to virtual reality after our death. Games like Second Life were / are a substitute for what we see in film productions, but they give some freedom and possibilities. There is no question of full immersion, but show what opportunities modern technology brings.

Since Facebook became the owner of Oculus, it was known that sooner or later it would attempt to transfer its flagship platform, which is Facebook to virtual reality. Knowing the financial capabilities of the social giant, we can hope that this will be a breakthrough.

What exactly is Facebook Horizon?

There is not much information on Facebook Horizon. Everything revolves around the presentation of a new idea in a 92-second advertising spot, which may mean that it is a product in the initial production phase.

At the end of 2019, a closed BETA version appeared, which can be used by Oculus eyewear owners. At the beginning of 2020, promotional materials are still the above-mentioned film, a small number of tests carried out by technology bloggers. Not much is happening. No wonder, because the VR glasses market still seems to be small (but with ambitions), their options are very limited, and prices are relatively high. In addition, their long wearing is not indifferent to our well-being and health. Let’s assume, however, that Facebook has managed to bring its VR glasses almost to perfection. We can use them almost constantly, the image displayed through them is sharp and “pleasantly” looked at. In view of the above, it will be a column from the series: “What would happen if …”

Imagining the idyllic Facebook Horizon community flying planes, competing with each other in car races, meeting in various and strangest places, it is hard to resist the impression that it will be a place ideally created for sales and marketing activities. Just like inside large-format stores, where we are perfectly isolated from the outside world, we lose the sense of time, we lose ourselves in shopping, so entering Facebook Horizon we become part of a closed world, governed by its own laws. Most interestingly, these rights are just emerging, because there is no platform yet operating on such (as intended) scale. There will be plenty of sales opportunities and influence on the user.

I will not mention selling virtual clothes, places, houses for real money, because this is an obvious move used by all MMO platforms. Facebook advertises its Horizon as a place for meetings, conversations, shared entertainment, sharing opinions, doing things that for various reasons we couldn’t do in the real world. However, this is an incredible organ waiting to discover its capabilities.

So what opportunities does Horizon offer to marketers and sellers?

Until now, virtual reality has been used mainly during advertising events. A simple game or animation was created in which the idea and the surprise effect mattered. Around this idea, history was created and scenography was built in the real world. The whole campaign could not be conducted only in virtual reality, because its reception would be limited to only a few people who on a given day could put on glasses and experience the prepared VR material.

When Horizon enters the game as a full-fledged product, this situation will change radically. It will be possible to carry out campaigns in VR on a similar scale as in the real world, and maybe even larger. There will be no restrictions associated with the nature of the real world. Ad creators will have virtually unlimited possibilities. Advertisements appearing in the Horizon world will be able to be personalized for each user, just like it is today, when using traditional Facebook.

Let’s imagine a situation when we are shown a car advertisement (of course, we were looking for a new car via the Internet before, so remarketing caught us in VR) and we, immediately being interested in it, can sit behind the wheel of the dream car.

It is obvious that “outdoor” advertisements appearing in the world of FB Horizon will not be limited to flat surfaces, but will be fully interactive, three-dimensional panels, with the possibility of viewing the product, virtual testing, etc. At this point, it is difficult to introduce innovative methods of using virtual reality in marketing, going beyond some standardity. For sure, the ones we already know can be easily implemented into the artificial world. Probably the same tools will affect the recipient, but more so. Immersion may cause that advertising messages will be closer to us, more tangible, almost real. A psychologist or NLP specialist can certainly speak on this topic. The Horizon platform will be the perfect place to use Instant Marketing to instantly respond to real events.

In all this there is another very important element – moderation. Platform creators, advertisers, motherboarders, graphic designers and designers must remember that each message will be received more intensively by the recipient. It is important not to overload it with the amount of messages, options and impressions. Otherwise, he will not want to enter the “Virtual Advertising Platform” anymore. He will be tired of her or he will simply be afraid of her.

Undoubtedly, Facebook Horizon as (probably) the largest platform using virtual reality brings many opportunities for its use in marketing and advertising. I do not try to play in the visionary here – how innovative it can be done, because this is not the time for such thoughts. There are too many unknowns to make such visions. Will Horizon become a hit? Whether the technology will allow us to sit in VR for hours and fully enjoy the immersion, or maybe it will die a natural death like 3D TVs and Google Glass remains unknown.