Facebook is changing the name of its company to Meta as the company sets its sights on expanding into the nascent Metaverse, the social network has confirmed.
While the social media platform itself will still retain the Facebook name, the umbrella company will now be known as Meta, which chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said symbolised for him that there was “always more to build”.
Mr Zuckerberg explained that while Facebook was one of the most used products in the world, the name no longer reflected the true breadth of its ambitions during the company’s annual Connect conference.
The 37-year old also detailed the company’s ambitions to build the metaverse, a theoretical digital universe with its origins in 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, that Facebook projects will allow us to work, shop, learn and play in virtual reality spaces.
“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future,” he 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 work on future platforms.”
Facebook’s apps and brands, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, will remain the same, he said, adding that the company would maintain its focus on designing technology around people.
“Now we have a new north star to help bring the metaverse to life, and we have a new name that reflects the full breadth of what we do and the future that we want to help build. From now on, we’re going to be metaverse first, not Facebook first.”
In the future users would no longer need to have a Facebook account to use its other services, he confirmed, a decision that will prove popular with users reluctant to link their personal social media accounts to use the company’s Oculus virtual reality headset, among others.
The company has been under intense scrutiny from governments and child protection agencies in recent weeks after former worker Frances Haugen leaked documents detailing how the company was struggling to regulate hate speech and misinformation and the extent of its own research into the negative effects its platforms had on young people’s mental health and body image.
Mr Zuckerberg told investors on an earnings call earlier this week that recent media coverage had painted a “false picture” of his company, adding that he was “really proud” of the progress his staff had made.
“Good faith criticism helps us get better, but my view is that we are seeing a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our company,” he said.
“The reality is that we have an open culture that encourages discussion and research on our work so we can make progress on many complex issues that are not specific to just us.”
