What makes Facebook change its name?

Last week, Facebook, the business that owns Instagram and WhatsApp, took the bold step of rebranding itself as Meta Platforms, or Meta for short.

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Facebook’s primary social app, as well as the rest of the company’s products, such as Horizon and WhatsApp, will be rebranded. It’s similar to Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet.

Despite speculations that the business, like Alphabet and Google, will undergo a major organisational overhaul, Facebook claimed its “corporate structure is not changing.” The company’s financial reporting will now be split into two segments: Reality Labs and Family of Apps.

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The upcoming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to discuss at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th but could be announced sooner, is designed to signify the internet giant’s aim to be known for more than just social media and all of its associated problems. The makeover would most likely present the blue Facebook app as one of many products managed by a parent business that also oversees Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and other companies. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment for this article.

Facebook currently has over 10,000 staff working on consumer devices such as augmented reality glasses, which Zuckerberg expects will become as common as smartphones. In July, he told The Verge that “we will effectively move from people seeing us as largely a social media company to being a metaverse company” over the next several years.

What is Meta?

The term metaverse is a portmanteau of the prefix ‘meta’, which is a Greek word meaning “beyond”, and “universe”.  Metaverse is a multiverse that interoperates more with the real world and incorporates augmented reality overlays. 

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When the rebranding was revealed on October 28, a founders letter was sent out, emphasising the company’s desire to be renowned for more than the Facebook service.

“Right now, our brand is so closely associated with a single product that it can’t possibly represent what we’re doing now, let alone in the future.” In the founding letter, Zuckerberg stated, “I hope we are regarded as a metaverse firm over time, and I want to base our work and our identity on what we’re building towards.”

“We’ve just announced that we’re making a major shift to our business.” We’re now looking at and reporting on our business as two distinct segments: one for our app family and another for our future platform efforts.

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The Washington Post reported today that Facebook concealed key information regarding vaccination disinformation from officials during the pandemic, putting the company’s reputation in jeopardy.

It was the most recent in a string of stories based on internal documents released to the media by ex-employee Ms Haugen. According to the reports, Facebook sat on studies showing that Instagram was harming teen mental health and struggled to remove hate speech from its platforms outside of the United States.

The reports, according to Mr Zuckerberg, are an “organised effort to selectively utilise hacked material to present a false picture of our organisation.”

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“Our metaverse effort isn’t just one of these portions. Both social experiences and future technology are included in the metaverse. It’s time for us to embrace a new brand as our vision broadens.”

This indicates that the corporation will gradually shift its focus away from Facebook, with the letter also suggesting that individuals will no longer require Facebook accounts to access other services in the future.

In addition, Zuckerberg stated that Meta signifies “beyond,” referring to the company’s efforts to “go beyond what’s achievable today.”

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The Concept Of Metaverse

The concept of the metaverse was first introduced in Neal Stephenson’s dystopian science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992). Hiro, the protagonist of the storey, is a hacker who spends a lot of time in the Metaverse, a fictional, computer-generated universe.

What makes Facebook change its name to Meta?

While the letter makes sense, Kyla Lam, an IDC research analyst for ARVR/Wearables, told Trusted Reviews that it was also undoubtedly a reaction to whistleblower Frances Haugen’s continued allegations against the company.

“I believe there are a number of reasons why Facebook changed its name to Meta. First, in the face of countless privacy and safety complaints, Facebook is exploiting the new parent name to divert attention away from the rebranding, despite whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimonies against Facebook,” Lam lamented.

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“Secondly, given the company’s recent stock price declines, it helps to reassure investors.” Because having a parent company streamlines operations, there may be more openness and clarity in analysing its Family of Apps, which includes Facebook and Instagram, and Facebook Reality Labs, which includes AR and VR-related business segments, separately.” The moniker, according to Lam, reflects Facebook’s goal to expand its reach and ad revenue.

What Is Metaverse?

The metaverse is a realm in which the physical and virtual worlds collide. It appears to be becoming a reality, integrating virtual and augmented reality, the Internet, and everyday life together.

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In the metaverse, there will be avatars, which are computer representations of people. The avatars can engage in a variety of activities, including communicating at work, attending concerts, gaming, and even dressing up in virtual attire.

The metaverse is a term used to describe digital places that appear more lifelike thanks to the use of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) (AR).

The phrase is also applied to gaming worlds in which users are given a character and are free to interact with other players.

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The term “metaverse” is used to depict a future version of the internet that is made up of shared, 3D virtual environments.

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