Facebook is reportedly planning to change its name to better reflect Mark Zuckerberg's goal of creating a "metaverse," reportsThe Verge, claiming the change could come as soon as next week.
From the report:
The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company's annual Connect conference on October 28th, but could unveil sooner, is meant to signal the tech giant's ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more. A spokesperson for Facebook declined to comment for this story.
Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to shift people's mindset around Facebook, no longer limiting it to just a social media company but to "being a metaverse company." The naming change also comes amid heightened scrutiny on Facebook following a whistleblower sharing several internal documents from the social media company.
A rebrand could also serve to further separate the futuristic work Zuckerberg is focused on from the intense scrutiny Facebook is currently under for the way its social platform operates today. A former employee turned whistleblower, Frances Haugen, recently leaked a trove of damning internal documents to The Wall Street Journal and testified about them before Congress.
As for what Facebook's new name and brand could be, it's not entirely clear. The Verge says that even some of Facebook's own high-ranking leadership executives are not aware of the name, but speculates it could have something to do with "Horizon."
I'm told that the new Facebook company name is a closely-guarded secret within its walls and not known widely, even among its full senior leadership. A possible name could have something to do with Horizon, the name of the still-unreleased VR version of Facebook-meets-Roblox that the company has been developing for the past few years.
Facebook's forthcoming change draws stark similarities to 2015 when Google restructured to be under "Alphabet," its holding company that includes Google itself and its subsidiaries.
Sounds similar to when Comcast changed its name to Xfinity because it had landed at or near the bottom of every customer satisfaction survey, including "most hated companies in America" (Forbes or Fortune, I get them mixed up) and at the top of every customer complaint list. CEO: "Comcast? Never heard of it."
Thursday August 19, 2021 4:29 pm PDT by Juli Clover
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Facebook, otherwise known as Meta, has been crowned the worst company of the year, following a turbulent 12 months of controversies, public backlash, and an eventual entire rebrand of the social media giant, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo Finance.
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Facebook, now rebranded to Meta, is looking to open physical retail stores where customers will be able to experience the wide range of products it has to offer, such as Oculus headsets, in a "welcoming" and "judgment-free" experience, according to a new report from The New York Times.
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Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
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Note:...
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Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make ...
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Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may...
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Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors....
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