Meta is allowing users to make their virtual avatar show up on video calls in Messenger and Instagram, the tech giant announced on Tuesday.
The new feature aligns with the company’s expansion strategy with its avatar system, which it has been slowly building out as part of its metaverse vision.
Using your Meta avatar in a call will look the same as Apple’s Memoji avatars on a FaceTime call. Meta’s avatars follow your facial expressions and mouth movements, which could make it easier to tell what someone is actually saying while they’re chatting with you as an avatar
In the same vein, Meta is introducing animated avatar stickers, which will let your avatar be the one to actually give a thumbs-up or roll on the floor laughing in a conversation.
The animated stickers can be used in “Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels, Facebook comments, and 1:1 message threads on Messenger and Instagram,” according to Meta’s blog post.
Besides these feature improvements, the tech firm stated that it standardizing the way avatars look across virtual reality (VR) and its family of apps.
“No one wants to look like a cake pop, and now, you don’t have to,” Meta wrote.
This will make your avatar appear more realistic and “also means you’ll be better able to show off your ’fits,” which could entice you to spend money on virtual clothes from the company’s avatar store.
