• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 21, 2022

Adobe, Epic Games, Meta, Microsoft and more than 30 companies and organizations have formed a standards group for metaverse technology to foster open, interoperable standards for augmented and virtual reality, geospatial, and 3D technology.

The Metaverse Standards Forum, which centers on content, will explore where the lack of interoperability holds back metaverse deployment and how the work of Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) defines and evolve needed standards.

The Metaverse Standards Forum, will “jump start the completely new Metaverse Industry, which will be much bigger than the Internet Industry,” Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Equity Research
Global Equities Research, wrote in a note.

Building an open and inclusive metaverse will require open interoperability standards created by companies like The Khronos Group, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Open Geospatial Consortium, the Open AR Cloud, the Spatial Web Foundation, and many others.

Hosted by the Khronos Group, the Forum called on any company, standards organization, or university to join at no charge. Companies that wish to provide Forum oversight -- and to fund Forum projects -- can choose to become a Principal member.

Meta, Facebook's and Instagram's parent company, also said today it will roll out tools and updates that allow creators to monetize content on the platforms. The news announced one day prior to VidCon 2022 held in Anaheim, California, will support many changes wrapped in content in the coming year.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, announced Tuesday the company will launch ways for creators to make money on Facebook and Instagram, and updates and tool will help creators build the metaverse, Zuckerberg wrote in a post.

More money will go straight to creators, he wrote, as the company plans to "hold off on any revenue sharing on Facebook and Instagram until 2024," including paid online events, subscriptions, badges, and bulletins.

Zuckerberg shared six updates in his Facebook thread.

• Interoperable Subscriptions: Creators will have the ability to give paying subscribers on other platforms access to subscriber-only Facebook Groups.
• Facebook Stars: Will become eligible to all creators, so more people can start earning from their Reels, live, or VOD videos.
• Monetizing Reels: The Reels Play Bonus program will open to more creators on Facebook and let creators cross-post their Instagram Reels to Facebook and monetize them.
• Creator Marketplace: Tests are taking place on Instagram where creators can get discovered and paid, and where brands can share new partnership opportunities.
• Digital Collectibles: Expanding tests so more creators around the world can display their non-fungible tokens (NFT) on Instagram. The feature will eventually migrate to Facebook, starting with a small group of U.S. creators, so people can cross-post on Instagram and Facebook.