Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesSoftware & Technology

What Zuckerberg Got Wrong With the Metaverse

Dan Newman criticizes Mark Zuckerberg's approach to the Metaverse, suggesting that the focus on this single audacious project led to a neglect of Meta's core business. He argues that companies should invest in big projects while maintaining their core products and services. Newman highlights the risks Meta faced by diverting attention away from its successful platforms.

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Software & Technology teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

By Software And Technology · FacebookMetaverseTiktok
Share
What Zuckerberg Got Wrong With the Metaverse

Key takeaways

01

Mark Zuckerberg's focus on the Metaverse led to neglect of Meta's core business.

02

Successful companies invest in new projects without losing sight of core offerings.

03

Regaining customer trust is crucial for Meta's sustainability and future growth.

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Software & Technology?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Software & Technology coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Request an invite

Dan Newman, Principal Analyst & Founding Partner, of Futurum Research gives his hot take on what Mark Zuckerberg got wrong with the launch of the Metaverse.

Dan’s Thoughts:

Mark Zuckerberg didn’t get much right this past year. The whole meta debacle was a big failure, but not because companies don’t need to make big bets. It’s because he bet everything while not focusing on that core product. Companies like Alphabet over and over again have made investments in big audacious projects, but they never got away from the core business. Alphabet still understands its search. AWS is focused on its cloud business. That’s where its opting comes from. For meta, it went all in on this 10-year vision, and in the meantime, TikTok was taking customers away. It was losing its core audience.

It had already hurt the trust of many of its customers because of what’s gone on with, privacy, the elections, and moderation. Some of the same things are going on, with Elon Musk and overall the shedding of so many employees in such a short period of time. Staying away from doing that has created a lot of uncertainty in the long run.

For Meta and Facebook, I think he needs to get back to the core business, focus on making money, and then reinvest those dollars and ensure the company has a long-term strategy. And maybe it’s the metaverse, but it can’t be just the metaverse.

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Software & Technology starts with a company putting its solutions engineers, product teams, and customer engineers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Buyers ask AI engines who to consider, and published expert answers are what those engines cite.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

SA
Software And Technology

Follow Software & Technology Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Software & Technology: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Software & Technology buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. See how AI describes your company today, and where competitors show up instead.

Free workspace

You just read one Software & Technology expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your solutions engineers, product teams, and customer engineers into the articles, video, and social content Software & Technology buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale Studio workspace
One video edit a month, on us
AI writing, editing, and publishing tools
In-platform coaching to learn the system

More Software & Technology Insights

AI agents are moving from chatbots to running workflows, and ops will feel it first

AI agents are moving from chatbots to running workflows, and ops will feel it first

Salesforce’s Winter ’27 release positions AI agents to run end-to-end workflows inside CRM and collaboration tools, including service case guidance, voice scheduling, and agent-driven commerce search, according to Salesforce. In parallel, NIST’s new AI Agent Standards Initiative is asking for industry input on AI agent security and is drafting guidance on software and AI agent identity and authorization, Federal News Network reported. On the infrastructure side, CoreWeave says it is unifying training, inference, observability, and reinforcement learning so autonomous agents can improve in production, while Cloudflare and Plume data highlighted by Cablefax show non-human traffic and AI agent requests rising sharply, creating measurable capacity and latency planning implications. The operational consequence is that “agent readiness” is becoming a joint program across app owners, security teams, and network operators, with identity, authorization, observability, and traffic management becoming gating items for scaling agents beyond pilots.

  • 01If AI agents are going to run workflows, the gating work shifts from prompt design to identity and authorization, NIST’s early initiative outputs are already centered there.
  • 02Agent traffic is not a rounding error: Cloudflare’s estimate that over half of internet traffic is non-human, plus Plume’s household-level data, is a planning signal for WAN, contact center voice, and Wi‑Fi policies.
  • 03The fastest path to better agents is increasingly “production learning,” CoreWeave’s closed-loop training-to-inference pitch, which raises the bar for observability and regression control in enterprise deployments.

Sep 1, 2026

Proptech money is clustering around ops automation, not new listing sites

Proptech money is clustering around ops automation, not new listing sites

In mid-2026, funding and product developments indicate a growing focus on operational automation tools in the proptech sector, rather than on new listing sites. AI agents and benchmarking tools are becoming increasingly significant for tasks such as leasing, collections, and managing portfolio KPIs.

  • 01Investment in proptech is increasingly directed towards operational automation rather than new listing sites.
  • 02AI agents and benchmarking tools are becoming vital in the management of leasing and collections.
  • 03Portfolio Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a critical focus area for new proptech solutions.

Aug 31, 2026

Better AI software is driving up spending on power, partners, and delivery

Better AI software is driving up spending on power, partners, and delivery

Enterprise AI is evolving from a features competition to a procurement challenge impacting software, partnerships, and data center supply chains. Companies are increasingly investing in power consumption, strategic partnerships, and delivery mechanisms to support AI advancements. The focus is shifting towards efficient resource allocation and supply chain management to optimize AI implementation.

  • 01Enterprise AI implementation is becoming more about procurement than features.
  • 02Investments in power consumption, partners, and delivery are on the rise for AI.
  • 03Focus is shifting towards optimizing supply chain management for AI advancements.

Aug 31, 2026

Explore More Software & Technology Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Software & Technology.

Browse Software & Technology Hub

About the Expert

SA
Software And Technology

Principal Analyst & Founding Partner of Futurum Research

Dan Newman is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. He provides insights on technology and innovation with a focus on digital transformation. His analysis often highlights industry trends and their impact on business strategies.

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Software & Technology and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512