Last week, social media giant Facebook confirmed the rumours that had been floating around the interwebs for weeks; they have officially announced that the overarching company name for all of Facebook’s brands will now be “Meta”.
Much like Google’s launch of their parent company ‘Alphabet’, Facebook will now fall under the umbrella of the newly minted ‘Metaverse’. The Facebook social media app itself will still retain its infamous name, but all their various products and projects will now be owned by ‘Meta’, not ‘Facebook’.
In a publicly posted “Founder’s Letter”, Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that the social media company will be operating from a Meta-centric model;
“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.”
The decision comes after a difficult few months for the company; after facing intense scrutiny in recent press, as well as a steadily declining user base in the youth market, Facebook is hopeful this announcement will infuse some new energy and enthusiasm into their brand.
As to the reasoning behind the name, ‘Meta’, Facebook explained that the new name aims to capture their commitment to the full spectrum of the social-digital experience. The family of apps will be one side of Metaverse’s business (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) and their Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies will comprise the other.
In the same founder’s letter, Zuckerberg goes on to explain how the launch of ‘Meta’ will impact the way we use and interact with technology on a daily basis, further incorporating social media into our real life experiences.
“The defining quality of the metaverse will be a feeling of presence — like you are right there with another person or in another place. Feeling truly present with another person is the ultimate dream of social technology. That is why we are focused on building this.”
Time will tell how social media users embrace this new way of experiencing social technology. For now, audiences seem eager to see what’s next.
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This article was originally featured on TaggerMedia.com on 2 November, 2021.