On Thursday, the American multinational technology conglomerate holding company Facebook officially announced that it had changed the company name to Metaverse.
In a 75-minute online presentation, CEO Mark Zuckerberg urged users to adjust their thinking about the company, which he said had outgrown its ubiquitous and problematic social media app. This platform will continue to be known as Facebook.
According to him, the company will concentrate on what he called the “next wave of computing”: a virtual universe in which individuals will be able to walk freely as avatars, attend virtual business meetings, purchase in virtual stores, and socialize at virtual gatherings.
“We’re going to be the metaverse first from now on. “Not Facebook first,” declared Zuckerberg at Connect, the company’s annual virtual and augmented reality conference. “Facebook is one of the world’s most popular products. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that it does not contain everything we do. Our brand is currently so closely associated with one product that it can’t possibly represent all we do.”
Why change name?
The move comes as Facebook is embroiled in a scandal over allegations that it has secretly and meticulously tracked real-world harms exacerbated by its platforms, disregarded employee warnings about the dangers of its design decisions, and exposed vulnerable communities around the world to a cocktail of dangerous content.
Following the release of tens of thousands of internal corporate records to Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month, politicians and critics have urged for immediate action to rein in the digital giant.
Whistleblower Frances Haugen’s disclosures are likely the most serious challenge yet to Zuckerberg and his company, which is the world’s largest social networking platform.
Critics slammed the approach, comparing it to Phillip Morris’ crisis strategy when it became evident that the business had known for a long time that cigarettes were harmful to people’s health.
What is Metaverse?
The term “metaverse” originates in science fiction and has recently gained popularity among venture capitalists as a method to describe interconnected services.
Facebook isn’t the first corporation in Silicon Valley to rebrand. In 2015, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, changed its name to Alphabet in an attempt to unify a corporate behemoth that included not only search and display advertising but also driverless cars and a life sciences section. In an attempt to reposition itself as a camera firm, Snapchat changed its name to Snap Inc.
The name “meta” was inspired by Zuckerberg’s love of the classics, and it is derived from the Greek word “beyond.”
“To me, it represents the fact that there is always more to construct and a new chapter to the story.”
In a blog post, Zuckerberg claimed the branding would take into account previous “lessons,” emphasizing that privacy and security will be included in the new generation of products “from Day One” – a clear allusion to Facebook’s track record of losing confidence. “The last few years have been humbling for me and my company in a number of ways,” he said in his keynote presentation, referring to Facebook’s issues.
