Abstract
This paper starts with the debate over “real-virtual” social media， and explores the underlying reasons why contemporary social media such as Facebook actively involve in the metaverse. Social media， in essence， cannot be viewed as a “virtual” cyberspace， nor could the “status” on someone’s social media be regarded as a beguiling “performance.” Social media are actually reliant on constantly drawing raw material from real liferesource， and this act itself is operated by blending “the real” and “the virtual.” Although advocates of metaverse advertise its innovative potential， metaverse also operates on the convergence of “the real” and “the virtual.” It is this shared underlying trait that draws social media naturally toward metaverse. Therefore， metaverse will not become a technological paradise， but instead a more aggressive “inner colonization” of the real and the human body.
Keywords
metaverse, social media, Virilio, Lovink
First Page
21
Last Page
29
Recommended Citation
Zheng, Xing. 2023. "Why Facebook？ — On the Relevance of Metaverse to Contemporary Social Media." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 43, (1): pp.21-29. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol43/iss1/4
