Facebook Changes Its Name To Meta

Social networking giant, Facebook, has changed its brand name to Meta. The company said this is a necessary step to “encompass” what it does, since it plans to broaden its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR). The company added that this will not displace its social networking platforms – rather, it will form the name of the parent company.

The move records series of negative narrations, following some documents leaked by an ex-employee, Frances Haugen. Amongst other claims and accusations, Haugen accused the company of emphasizing “profits over safety”.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name, revealing plans by the company to build a “metaverse”, which will enable people work and communicate in a virtual space, using VR headsets. According to Mark, there is need for change, as the existing brand cannot “possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future”.

Speaking at a virtual conference, Mark Zuckerberg said “Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards. We’re now looking at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms. And as part of this, it is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build.”

At the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Thursday, it unveiled a new sign. Its thumbs-up “Like” logo was being replaced by a blue infinity shape. Mr Zuckerberg said this move will be beneficial to all parties involved, as users will not need to use Facebook before they access other services by the company.

“Meta” which comes from the Greek word meaning “beyond”, is believed to be the future of the internet. The new software will enable people enter a virtual world for work, gaming and communication purposes. Facebook has announced it will be ready to trade its shares under the new stock ticker MVRS from December 1.

There are efforts to tamper with the reputation of Facebook, via leaked documents by ex-employee Ms Haugen to the media. One of the accusations was that Instagram harmed teenage mental health, and struggled to remove hate speech from its platforms outside the US. However, Mr Zuckerberg condemned the report, describing it as a “coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our company”.

Source: BBC News

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