--- title: "Zuckerberg Reportedly Got Furious at Wedding at Mention of His Dumb Metaverse Selfie" description: "The first rule of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse is, apparently, that you don't talk about the Metaverse." date: "2024-01-14" modified: "2024-01-14" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/zuckerberg-wedding-metaverse-selfie" categories: - "Future Society" - "Metaverse" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "mark zuckerberg" - "metaverse" --- # Zuckerberg Reportedly Got Furious at Wedding at Mention of His Dumb Metaverse Selfie ![The first rule of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse is, apparently, that you don't talk about the Metaverse.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Negaverse The first rule of the Metaverse is, apparently, that you don't talk about the Metaverse. At least, that seems to be the takeaway from a telling anecdote from Sheryl Sandberg's wedding in a recent [*Bloomberg* report]() about Mark Zuckerberg's all-but-failed capital-M Metaverse. As you may or may not recall, 2022 was supposed to be the year of the metaverse, and Zuckerberg was so gung-ho about it that he quite literally [changed his company's name]() from Facebook to Meta to make it happen. But the reality of Meta's Metaverse fell far short of the big dreams and [billions of dollars]() the tech founder poured into it. By August 2022, when his [simplistic and cartoonish avatar dropped](), it seemed like an [extremely expensive joke]() — though not, it seems, to the man himself. Not long after the avatar incident, Zuckerberg attended his [former chief operating officer's nuptials]() in scenic Wyoming and, when it came up, he was reportedly very peeved (although a spokesperson told *Bloomberg* that "Mark doesn’t recall having a conversation on that topic while he was there.") According to multiple people familiar with the occurrence, though, the CEO and founder got so upset that he became convinced that his company's public relations department didn't know how make the metaverse sexy. In response, the company moved people around, though they weren't able to sell that particular brick of coal after all. ## Failed Reality Between then and now, there have been lots of indications that the Metaverse was going to ultimately faceplant. Wall Street [recoiled against]() the multi-billion-dollar bet, [experts bashed]() the investment, and once it actually launched, people who actually hung out in the Zuckerverse said it was "[sad, lonely, and expensive]()." As the company kept hemorrhaging money on the virtual reality flop, it began to [lay people off]() [en masse](). The rest, as they say, is history. Meta [lost a whopping $46.5 billion]() on Zuckerberg's metaverse moonshot — enough money to be its own Fortune 500 company — and has been [quietly pivoting to artificial intelligence]() in the wake of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Could that mockery have been part of that pivot? [Who can never be sure](). **More on Zuckerberg:** [*Zuckerberg Brags About Feeding Cows Macadamia Nuts and Beer at His Alleged Doomsday Bunker*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()