In 2012, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), now Meta Platforms, underwent a major shift away from desktop-focused products towards more mobile-friendly options. That change resulted in massive growth for the company, but the upcoming swap to the metaverse may not be as successful.
Within the company, employees working in social networking report that managers have been pushing them to apply for jobs within the metaverse lab, essentially forcing the current Meta employees to re-apply to the company for a new job. Existing employees aren't guaranteed a job in that department, and Meta has already begun poaching dozens of virtual reality engineers from places like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
When the company restructured in 2012, it employed around 5,000 people. Since then, the workforce has exploded, with the company currently employing more than 68,000 workers. Adjusting this behemoth to a new way of doing business is expected to be a significant challenge for Meta.
According to current and former Meta employees who spoke to The New York Times, some workers initially viewed the Meta pivot with excitement, but others argued that the company should address issues like misinformation and extremism before diving into a new product. Employees told reporters that workers who have not adopted a positive attitude towards Meta are now leaving the company.
Employees also said that it's unclear even within the company itself what will happen to Facebook and Instagram when the metaverse becomes the primary focus of the business. Teams working on those social platforms have dwindled in the past four months, and they expect to receive less funding in the second half of 2022 than in previous years.
A spokesperson for Meta said that the development of the metaverse isn't the company's only goal. However, he acknowledged that the change in direction has led to considerable job cuts.
The company's new direction was first seen in changes CEO Mark Zuckerberg made to Meta's executives. Mike Schroepfer, who had served as Meta's chief technology for some time, is set to be replaced by Andrew Bosworth by the end of this year.
Bosworth met Zuckerberg when the two of them were in a Harvard artificial intelligence class, with Bosworth serving as a teacher's assistant and Zuckerberg as a student. Bosworth was the lead on projects like the Oculus headset and Ray Ban Stories smart glasses.
While the pivot might be resulting in social networking employees losing their jobs, the company says that it will be creating tens of thousands of Meta jobs over the next five years. Already, nearly a quarter of all open positions on the company's site are in augmented or virtual reality departments.
On the other hand, many former Meta employees don't feel it's the best place to work on developing the metaverse and have instead moved to Meta's competitors.