Facebook goes Meta: Zuckerberg announces new corporate name
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Facebook is reshuffling its names under a rebranded corporate parent: Meta.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the change Thursday, saying he wanted a new brand and a clearercorporate naming schemeto help focus on what's next for the internet beyond social media.
The rebrand comes as Facebook faces a deluge of news stories and public scrutiny based on thousands of internal corporate documents obtained by news organizations, including NBC News. The documents, originating with former Facebook product manager and whistleblower Frances Haugen, reveal internal employee dissent over the platform's policies.
The change won't affect the name of the company's signature blue-colored app, which will keep the name Facebook. But it will mean a new identity for the corporate umbrella that also owns Instagram and WhatsApp.
Together with the app Messenger, Metawill own and control four of the most popular smartphone apps in the world.
The name is a nod to the idea of the "metaverse," a term for a potential future internet that emphasizes virtual spaces. Zuckerberg said the metaverse will be the internet's "next frontier."
Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook and its various apps would now fall under a new company name, Meta.Facebook
"Facebook is one of the most-used products in the history of the world. It is an iconic social media brand, but increasingly, it just doesn't encompass everything we do," he said in an online presentation.
"I want to anchor our work and our identity in what we are building towards," he said.
Facebook's focus on the idea of a metaverse has a lot of precedent in other tech companies, from the virtual world Second Life founded in 2003 to the online gaming platform Roblox. It's also been the subject of numerous science fiction novels and films such as "Ready Player One."
Zuckerberg, who has a longtime interest in studying classical Greece and Rome, noted that "meta" is Greek for "beyond."
The company's stock ticker will also change from FB to MVRS as of Dec. 1, CNBC reported.
The creation of Metais reminiscent of Google's decision in 2015 to restructure under a new corporate parent named Alphabet. That change separated Google's search engine and advertising businesses from other, unproven projects, such as the development of autonomous vehicles.
In 2019, Facebook shifted its branding strategy to emphasize the name Facebook, adding labels to the Instagram and WhatsApp apps to make the relationship clearer to users. It did so at the same time that lawmakers and other critics of Facebook were calling on the government to break up the company — which the Federal Trade Commission is now asking a federal court to do.
The Verge, a tech news website, reported in mid-October that Facebook planned to announce a name change to "focus on building the metaverse."
"Over the next five years or so, in this next chapter of our company, I think we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company," Zuckerberg told the website in July.
The announcement of the new name and structure came at the end of a presentation on the company's plans for virtual and augmented reality. Zuckerberg walked through some uses of an immersive virtual experience, from gaming and pretend surfing to work meetings, digital concerts and exercise.
"You're going to be able to do almost anything you can imagine," Zuckerberg said.
"Teleporting around the metaverse is going to be like clicking a link on the web," he said.
Marne Levine, the company's chief business officer, also invoked antiquity as another application of the metaverse, saying Meta's customers could transport to ancient Rome or other times in history.
"Imagine standing on the streets, hearing the sounds, visiting the markets, to get a sense of the rhythm of life over 2,000 years ago," she said.
Facebook moved into the virtual reality sector with its purchase of the company Oculus VR in 2014 for $2 billion. Its Oculus headsets now form the basis for Zuckerberg's metaverse plans, and he said he plans to continue selling the headsets at cost or at a loss to try to build up the number of users.
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So there's no confusion, should our Metafied group be renamed?
Depends on if it was copywrited or not I would think.
If Z copyrighted it, maybe he could force Perrie to change the NT Metafied, although he wouldn't consider doing it because of the expense and this site is an ant beside his mountain anyway.
He has dozens of Lawyers on salary so it's more about his pettiness or if he just really likes the name Metafied. He might just try to buy it though.
If he tried to buy it, Perrie should definitely sell it to him. Then change the group name to Bookface.. LOL
For clarification, you cannot copyright a title or name. However, you may be able to apply for and receive trademark protection for a title or name.
I wonder if Perrie has done that to protect the newstalkers name. I believe she has a close relative who is a copyright/trademark lawyer, so probably she did.
I looked up the name and apparently there's already a company or site named
I guess we better keep our metafied quiet.
A new name but the same old face.
I wonder where he got that name from?
A skunk by another name still stinks the same.
Get off Facebook, and live your life.
Never been to Facebook and am thinking of bailing from NT.
A life is a terrible thing to waste.
Think I'll go back to school and start playing golf and the bass again. At 67, thinking about making some retro changes. Being a martial art instructor, fighter, bouncer, bodyguard, paramedic, got old. Probably still have an A personality but don't want to exercise it anymore.
I understand your feelings. At the age of 69 I totally changed my life by going on my greatest adventure, and it has been a wondrous experience so broadening my horizons.
What was your greatest adventure?
Fearlessly moving my whole life to the other side of the world and remaining there.
Dialogue from Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King - The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, in his old age, is about to board the boat that leaves Middle Earth.
In this picture he is the Hobbit on board the boat.
And in my old age, I, too, was 'quite ready for another adventure' , one that I have enjoyed for more than 15 years.
Moved to the PI once but a lady drug me back to the states.
(Which was just another adventure)
I hear ole Zuck picked this name because he can make it stand for (Make Everything Trump Again".
I think he is finally on the right track.
Trump is getting new META hats made in China (of course) for his 2024 campaign. They will say:
TRUMP 2024
Make Everything Terrible Again.
Well, that was a miserable fail....but hey....do what you gotta do...
Yes, the Trump presidency certainly was a "miserable fail".