Facebook is changing its name as it shifts its focus to the “metaverse” and faces widespread scrutiny of the real-world harms caused by its various platforms, following the leak of hundreds of internal documents by a whistleblower.
Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder, announced on Thursday that the company’s name will be changed to Meta, effectively relegating the company’s namesake service to a subsidiary, alongside Instagram and WhatsApp, rather than the overarching brand.
A rebranding could be part of a larger effort to repair Facebook’s image and turn the page following a series of public relations disasters, including misinformation on its platforms, content moderation failures, and revelations about its products’ negative impact on some users’ mental health.
During the company’s virtual reality and augmented reality conference Facebook Connect, Zuckerberg announced the company’s growing focus on the metaverse, which refers to efforts to combine virtual and augmented reality technologies in a new online realm.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about our identity as we begin this next chapter. Facebook is one of the most used products in the history of the world,” Zuckerberg said on Thursday. “It is an iconic social media brand, but increasingly it just doesn’t encompass everything that we do.
“Today we’re seen as a social media company,” he added, “but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people. And the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started.”
According to Zuckerberg, who enjoyed studying classics in school, the name was inspired by the Greek word meta, which means “beyond.” “It symbolizes the fact that there is always more to build,” Mark said.
In addition, Zuckerberg announced that Messenger calling will be available in VR, as well as plans to launch a virtual marketplace where developers can sell virtual goods and a new home screen in Oculus Quest to make virtual world chatting and games more social.
Several major corporations have changed their well-known brands over the years. Kentucky Fried Chicken was shortened to KFC, and Datsun, a Japanese automobile manufacturer, was renamed Nissan. As a result of scandal or controversy, several high-profile names have changed. Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, changed its name to Altria after one of its planes crashed in 1996, and ValuJet became AirTran.
The company’s broader ambitions are reflected in other name changes. Google restructured the company with a new name, Alphabet, and plans to grow a variety of business divisions. Snapchat rebranded as Snap-in 2016 to reflect its foray into hardware, and Google restructured the company with a new name, Alphabet, and plans to grow a variety of business divisions.
