On Monday, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, Meta, announced that they are introducing 3D avatars to Instagram Stories and direct messages.

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Instagram users in the US, Canada, and Mexico are now able to have their 3D avatars of themselves appear in stickers, Instagram feed posts, as well as Facebook profile pictures across all Meta platforms. The new 3D avatar feature will include new facial shapes and assistive devices such as hearing aids and wheelchairs to be more inclusive of users that have disabilities.

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Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, expressed last year during the announcement of the company’s new name that the metaverse is a priority for the company. With Meta now recently integrating 3D avatars on their platforms, it will allow the company to push into and build out the metaverse. The metaverse, as described by Aigerim Shorman, Meta’s general manager for avatars and identity, is “an interconnected digital world that bridges Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality as well as your phone and computers.”

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He further explains that the addition of the new 3D avatar feature to Instagram is helping their company to “build towards a future that will allow people to sit in the same room as their loved ones that are many miles away or even work with a team that spans the globe.” Meta is continually building and pushing into the metaverse.

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