• Well, yes. Of course you’re right that “metaverse” predates Facebook. They’ve successfully co-opted it by now, though; Meta is what the average person thinks of when you say “metaverse.” Stephenson’s was also fictional, unless you’re really generous and use “metaverse” as a synonym for “the internet.”

      • In the books, yes. It didn’t exist IRL, and a poorly as it was done, FB’s metaverse was (is?) a real product.

        Facebook/Meta has never had an original idea; I’m not trying to give them credit for anything. There were other VR “worlds” before FB’s (Sony’s, for example, which was also a failure).

        I just found out that Steve Jackson Games actually owns the trademark to the name “Metaverse.” I’ll bet that drove Zuck nuts.