Facebook Inc, known as the parent company to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has revealed it has rebranded to Meta.
During a pre-recorded live session at Connect 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news, saying that Meta will bring together all of its apps and technologies under one new company brand. Its focus will be building the ‘metaverse,’ a shared virtual environment that helps people connect, find communities and grow businesses.
“Our mission remains the same: still about bringing people together,” Zuckerberg said. “Our apps and their brands, they’re not changing either. And we are still the company that designs technology around people. Now, we have a new north star: 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. That means that over time, you won’t need to use Facebook to use our other services. And as our new brand starts showing up in our products, I hope that people come to know the Meta brand and the future that we stand for.”
Zuckerberg also added that in the metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine – get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create – as well as completely new experiences that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today.
“I’m proud of what we’ve built so far and excited about what comes next as we move beyond what’s possible today beyond the constraints of screens, beyond the limits of distance and physics and towards a future where everyone can be present with each other, create new opportunities and experience new things. It’s a future that is beyond any one company that will be made by all of us.”
The announcement comes adid a crisis for Facebook, as it faces increased legislative and regulatory scrutiny following revelations in the alleged Facebook Papers. It is said that the documents revealed how Facebook ‘ignored or downplayed’ internal warnings surrounding negative and harmful consequences its social networks created or heightened across the world.
