How I Approach Developer Relations in Meta's Growing Metaverse

This is the third session of the DX Mentorship program (cohort 4). We were taught about DevRel and future technologies. At the end of the session, we were given an assignment to explore a future technology industry, choose a company or product in that space, and outline a DevRel strategy for it.

This article talks about my strategies as a DevRel for Meta, formerly Facebook, and its vision for the Metaverse. I’ll briefly explain why I chose this product, highlight DevRel opportunities, and outline the first steps I’d take if I were doing DevRel for Meta’s Metaverse products.

Metaverse as the present and future technology

The metaverse is more than just a trend or a buzzword. It is a digital internet space that has not yet been fully adopted but is still growing. The kind of digital interactions and learning we currently have, the metaverse, takes it to another level with virtual and augmented reality. With companies like Meta and Apple heavily investing in this space, the Metaverse is shaping up to be a core part of how we experience the internet in the future, and it will span across all aspects of life, from networking, remote work, online communities, gaming, and so on.

Meta’s role in building the Metaverse

Meta, formerly Facebook, has positioned itself as a leader in the Metaverse space. Even the rebranding from Facebook to Meta says a lot about the direction the company is going in. The main aim of Meta in the metaverse, as their founder, Mark Zuckerberg, made clear, is about connectivity and how people interact across the globe.

Why I chose Meta

Meta is one of the most active and ambitious companies leading the development of the Metaverse. Meta is building not just a platform for users but an entire ecosystem where people can create and interact. For developers and designers, this creates exciting opportunities where developers and designers can design social experiences, games, virtual events, and so on. With tools provided by Meta, such as Horizon SDK, creators can build and expand the metaverse space.

My DevRel strategy for Meta

My devRel strategy for Meta’s Metaverse ecosystem ranges from community management to technical education to content creation and internal advocacy. The goal is to empower developers to build confidently within Meta’s provided virtual environments while making sure the feedback from the community helps the company build better and helpful tools for the community. Here’s how I would approach it:

1. Community

   For an emerging ecosystem relying on builders (developers) to expand its ecosystem, building a developer community and engaging developers is one of the best ways to get people to build on Meta’s ecosystem with the products provided. Also, the company uses their feedback to improve on the product.

2. Create Helpful Content

   Creating guides for the developers lowers the barrier for new developers trying to get used to the ecosystem and product. Getting started guides and video tutorial contents would help onboard the developers in the ecosystem.

3. Host Events

   Live interactions bring out the best developer ideas, and it is one of the best ways to expand and talk about your product. With hackathons that will require them to use some Meta products, Q&A sessions, and VR meetups, all these can also be avenues to test the products and see their limits and take this feedback to the products and engineering team. This also fosters community engagement.

4. Support active creators

   Active creators in the ecosystem should be recognized and supported from time to time. This shows appreciation and the feeling of being among.

Conclusion

DevRel plays a key role in helping Meta’s metaverse grow by connecting developers to knowledge, tools, and community. With a strategy focused on education, community, and feedback, developers will feel supported and motivated to build within the ecosystem. As a DevRel, my focus would be on helping developers succeed while also helping Meta improve its product through insights from the community.