Facebook has changed its parent company’s name to “Meta” to represent a future beyond in a bid to rebrand. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp will, however, keep their individual names.
At Facebook’s annual developers conference on Thursday, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “We’ve learned a lot from struggling with social issues and living under closed platforms, and now it is time to take everything that we’ve learned and help build the next chapter,”
“I am proud to announce that starting today, our company is now Meta. Our mission remains the same, still about bringing people together, our apps and their brands, they’re not changing,” he added.
In a blog post, Zuckerberg stated that Facebook’s corporate structure will not be changing. He wrote that “Starting with our results for the fourth quarter of 2021, we plan to report on two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs. We also intend to start trading under the new stock ticker we have reserved, MVRS, on December 1. Today’s announcement does not affect how we use or share data.”
He also announced plans to build a “metaverse” – an online world where people can game, work, and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets.
Interestingly, after a report that leaked the rebranding plans last week, many have criticized Facebook, arguing that the company was distracting from recent scandals and controversy.