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Meta’s avatars are heading to WhatsApp, though they won’t have the cross-connectivity with other Meta apps that also feature avatars.<\/figcaption>Image: Meta<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nMeta has taken its (in)famous avatars out of the \u201cmetaverse\u201d and has been dropping them into its social apps, hoping personalized cartoon versions of people will generate enough interest in the company’s flagging metaverse project<\/span>. After adding them to Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, the company has finally come for the \u201cno gimmicks<\/span>\u201d WhatsApp.<\/p>\nOn Wednesday, the company shared a blog post<\/span> announcing Meta Avatars are coming to WhatsApp, though the company didn’t reveal when. The rollout is still relatively minimal, but the system promises avatars can be constructed from \u201cbillions of combinations\u201d of hair styles, facial features and outfits. Just like in other apps, avatars can be used as users’ profile picture or in stickers used when messaging. The features were first noted back in June by WaBetaInfo<\/span>as noted by TechCrunch<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n
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Mark Zuckerberg demands to be the face of all new company features, including sharing a little bit of extra cringe on his Facebook.<\/figcaption>screenshot: Facebook\/Mark Zuckerberg<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nThe company also promised that it’ll update avatars with better lighting, shading, and hair style textures \u201cthat will make avatars even better over time.\u201d What’s strange about this rollout is users may not have that interconnectivity that Meta seems to be aiming for. The app confirmed with TechCrunch that users won’t be able to use an Instagram or Meta avatar in WhatsApp, meaning the two avatars will remain separate. Those two other apps have had its silly-looking 3D avatars since late 2019 and early 2020.<\/p>\n
As far as what’s on offer, it seems pretty lackluster. The avatars themselves look like they’ve come out of the Xbox 360 generation when every competing company wanted to have its own version of Nintendo’s Miis. They certainly seem stylized, but in that kind of corporate \u201cbig head mode\u201d style that’s just inoffensive enough to be incredibly boring. I’ve tried making myself in Messenger and found it even more restrictive than when I was just 11-years-old tapping away on a Nintendo Wii to make a face look like a train tunnel. <\/p>\n
Trying to analyze Meta is sometimes like looking at a funhouse mirror. Look at it from one side, and you’ll be greeted by its vast app empire<\/span> that encompasses some of the most popular social platforms the world over, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Take a few steps to the right and look at the company from the other direction, and you’ll see a desperate, startup-like drive to force shared digital spaces, AKA the metaverse, into common usage. <\/p>\nMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has had to justify his expansion into the metaverse<\/span> with shareholders, which avatars are a major aspect of connecting users into a shared digital space, at least as far as the company has explained during its latest Meta Connect conference<\/span>. The company has caught waves of flak for how even the introduction of legs<\/span> for its Horizon Worlds avatars comes off as a major milestone. At the same time, during a company-wide meeting last month, Zuckerberg explained to employees that the two apps that will drive sales growth in the next few years will be WhatsApp and Messenger<\/span>reportedly calling them \u201cthe next major pillar of our business.\u201d <\/p>\nAnd it’s getting harder for Meta to justify the push into the metaverse, especially as its own employees don’t seem too keen to use Horizon Worlds, according to internal memos seen by The Verge<\/span>. This is especially concerning, as the company is working through its plans to lay off 11,000<\/span> of its roughly 87,000 employees across the globe. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meta’s avatars are heading to WhatsApp, though they won’t have the cross-connectivity with other Meta apps that also feature avatars.Image: Meta Meta has taken its (in)famous avatars out of the \u201cmetaverse\u201d and has been dropping them into its social apps, hoping personalized cartoon versions of people will generate enough interest in the company’s flagging metaverse …<\/p>\n
Meta’s Cringey Avatars Are Finally Headed to WhatsApp<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[1498,329,554,1479,678,306,4138,20627,582,3732,1240,1481,5403,3763,10840,3730,551,1323,3741,16276],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeta's Cringey Avatars Are Finally Headed to WhatsApp - harchi90<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n