After a week’s worth of anticipation, Facebook has finally revealed what its new name will be at its Connect 2021 event. The official renaming announcement reflects the company’s change in direction to better pursue its new and emerging focus – transcendent, higher connection.

From this day forth, Facebook will now be known under the company name ‘Meta’. To clear up any immediate questions with regards to its brands, Facebook, the app, as well as all its other brand names and identities, will remain the same. It’s very much like Google switching to the broader company name, ‘Alphabet’. All of Facebook’s projects will now come under the banner of Meta to better reflect its evolving focus on bringing about the next generation of digital connection.

Facebook explains:

“The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world. It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together – and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world. It’s the next evolution in a long line of social technologies, and it’s ushering in a new chapter for our company.”

Facebook’s overall business structure will also come under the Meta banner, with the company splitting its operational streams into two major segments: ‘Family Of Apps’, which is Facebook and all its constituents as we’ve come to know, and ‘Reality Labs’, its new RnD branch for AR and VR innovation.

Facebook is said to also be changing its stock ticker from ‘FB’ to ‘MVRS’ on December 1. Investors should take note so as to avoid confusion and unnecessary panic.

Mark Zuckerberg also outlined his new vision for Meta in a ‘Founder’s Letter’:

“From now on, we will be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first. That means that over time you won’t need a Facebook account to use our other services. As our new brand starts showing up in our products, I hope people around the world come to know the Meta brand and the future we stand for.”

This essentially comes off as ‘Facebook’ being tainted and is in need of a new start. The restructuring of the entire company can also be seen as a way for Mark to somewhat “distance” himself from Facebook and re-align his name with the evolving concept of the ‘Metaverse’. This can also be viewed as the company’s way of “re-framing” itself to be more future-thinking, as opposed to Facebook that has seemingly become a cesspool of controversy. Though this does not lessen those controversies in any way, it does enable Facebook to better compartmentalize each element, thereby helping it reposition itself towards a more fitting “image” as it pursues its Metaverse push. Ideally, Meta wants to be identified as a totally separate entity and one that’s built with safety in mind and has in tow the lessons learned from Facebook’s mistakes.

The Wrap

Mark went on to remark how he arrived at the name ‘Meta’, ending with the line that talks about how their journey and influence has led to “movements that have changed the world.” True, yes, but not all those movements were deemed as ‘good’. What’s more, the rebrand was not a total surprise given how so many have already deduced that ‘Meta’ was the likely choice.

All in all. The rebrand doesn’t really mean any major change, other than emphasizing the company’s intention to make the Metaverse concept a much bigger focus. Perhaps it does somewhat “refresh” the views on Facebook, or Meta rather,  but doesn’t attempt to really draw too far from its primary ambition, which is to become a foundation of the next stage of digital connection. How this plays out exactly can be anybody’s guess, at least for now. All we can say is that even Meta should have a chance at a fresh start. Either way, it certainly has the resources and technical expertise to push through, even if the path to tomorrow is lined with all kinds of challenges.

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Sources 

https://bit.ly/3jNMaR8