For months there have been talks about the introduction of metaverse and Facebook rebrand. That day finally arrived, when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook Inc. is now Meta Inc. at the 2021 annual Connect conference of Facebook. The brand and parent company that was previously Facebook Inc. will now be identified as ‘Meta’ with multiple apps and products under its wing. It will include products of virtual and augmented reality that make multidimensional connections happen for users.
“The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world.” Read the announcement statement by former Facebook, now with a new name and logo of Meta.
CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg also released a separate ‘Founder’s Letter‘, in which he talked about the said change and how it is going to change the user experience. “The next platform will be even more immersive — and embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it.” wrote Zuckerberg in his statement.
The distinct technological future we only saw in dystopian TV seems far closer now after his statement, “In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parent’s living room to catch up. This will open up more opportunities no matter where you live. You’ll be able to spend more time on what matters to you, cut downtime in traffic, and reduce your carbon footprint.”
The new change might be a lengthier mission of the company and its founder, but it sure seems to address many other PR issues Facebook had been coming across in recent years. More recently it has been in the news after the Wall Street report and whistleblower Frances Haugen publicly released hundreds of confidential Facebook reports regarding knowingly committing and hiding immense negative impacts of the platform.
We are not sure yet how much this rebrand will help the company get in the public’s good graces, but it does kill two birds with one stone. Who knows how much the ‘evolution of social connection’ will help divert the negative image for Meta Inc. now.
In rather lighter news, people are having a largely amusing time with the Meta rebrand, making memes and calling out the diverting action of the company, instead of addressing its ‘more concerning’ issues.
Twitter user and scientist Matt Blaze wrote, “Renaming “Facebook “Meta” solves the same kinds of problems that renaming “torture” “enhanced interrogation” did.” This was about the CIA’s controversial and unethical practices to extract information from suspects after the incident of 9/11.
MetawareTech also delivered hard truths, saying, “As of today I will now be known as MetawareTech. This is to focus on my building of the MetawareTechverse and nothing at all to do with any felonies I may or may not have been convicted of.” And another one where they wrote, “Feeling cute, might dismantle democracy later”
Vice, also reported the rebrand of Facebook as Meta with, “Facebook’s new name is Meta,” and its new mission is to invent a ‘metaverse’ that will make us all forget what it’s done to our existing reality.” They described the goals and plans laid out by Zuckerberg as, “delusional fever dream”, including “misleading or outright fabricated virtual reality product pitches”.
“brb changing our name,” Tweeted by Aldi stores with a picture of having their new logo that read “Betta”
