Facebook is rebranding because Zuckerberg wants to be known for the Metaverse now
Earlier this week, news broke out that Facebook is planning to change its company name at the annual Connect Conference on 28 October 28 (or even earlier according to The Verge). At first, most publications tried their hand at guessing where the sudden change was coming from—was it to distract us from Frances Haugen, also known as the Facebook whistleblower? Or was Mark Zuckerberg planning something else—something bigger?
As more speculation continued in the media, a “source with direct knowledge of the matter” let the cat out of the bag when speaking to The Verge. From there, things became clearer. “The coming name change is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail,” wrote the publication. The rebrand would help position the Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more—emphasis being placed on ‘more’.
Sure, Zuckerberg wants the world to acknowledge that his company is about way more than Facebook. I find it hard to imagine someone not knowing that already. Facebook has more than 10,000 employees building consumer hardware like AR glasses (which Zuckerberg believes will eventually be as omnipresent as smartphones).
Heck, about three months ago, the man told The Verge that, over the next several years, “we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.” In other words, he warned us.
In recent years, Facebook has been steadily laying the groundwork for a greater focus on the next generation of technology—whatever that means. This past summer, it set up a dedicated Metaverse team. More recently, it announced that the head of AR and VR, Andrew Bosworth, will be promoted to Chief Technology Officer (CTO). And just a couple of days ago, it announced plans to hire 10,000 more employees to work on the Metaverse in Europe.
The Metaverse is “going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg told The Verge’s Casey Newton this summer. “And I think it’s going to be the next big chapter for our company too, really doubling down in this area.” You know what they say on Love Island, ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’, and although it may look like Zuckerberg is not one to make such a misstep, it is clear that the company is expecting quite a lot from this whole Metaverse ordeal. But what are we even talking about here?
While Facebook has been heavily promoting the idea of the Metaverse in recent weeks, it’s still not a concept that’s widely understood. The term was coined originally by sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson to describe a virtual world people can escape to from a dystopian, real world.
“As of today, the closest thing we have to a Metaverse is online games,” Jack Ramage wrote for Screen Shot in July. “Ever played the game Roblox? If you haven’t, you’re probably somewhat aware of the concept—or at least, you’ve seen videos of screaming children playing the game. Essentially, the online multiplayer game, which is targeted towards children and whose parent company is valued at over 44 billion dollars, is based in a digital sandbox world where its users can program as well as play games created by other users. According to CNBC, the game is often considered an example of a Metaverse. Minecraft, a vast open-world sandbox game, is also considered by some to be a Metaverse,” he continued.
The way Ramage sees it, the Metaverse could soon replace what we currently know as the modern-day internet—“with all the same content but fewer limitations as to where and how that content can be accessed.” So, what’s next for Facebook’s rebranding? First, a new name, then a clear explanation of what the Metaverse is and how we will, without a doubt, all end up addicted to it.
