Facebook announced on Thursday, October 28 that it will be changing its name to Meta.
According to Business Insider, the name change will only affect the corporate entity that owns Facebook, but it will not affect the platforms that the company owns, including WhatsApp, Instagram and the Facebook site.
The change of name comes after a series of negative stories about Facebook that were based on documents leaked by an ex-employee, reports BBC.com.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name as he unveiled plans to build a “metaverse”, which is an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, using VR headsets.
Announcing @Meta — the Facebook company’s new name. Meta is helping to build the metaverse, a place where we’ll play and connect in 3D. Welcome to the next chapter of social connection. pic.twitter.com/ywSJPLsCoD
— Meta (@Meta) October 28, 2021
He said the existing brand could not “possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future”, and needed to change.
“Today we are seen as a social media company, but in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook’s main social app would exist under the new brand name. It’s similar to Google that exists under the Alphabet umbrella.
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