IOI
As Facebook transitions to a new identity – Meta, the most “liked” thumbs-up is changing to a pretzel or an infinity.
Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s co-founder and CEO, stated during the company’s Connect conference on October 28 that the rebranding reflects the company’s larger objectives relating to metaverse and away from Facebook, which is tightly linked to all of its products.
“As we embark on this next chapter, I’ve thought a lot about what this means for our company and our identity… Today, we’re seen as a social media company. Facebook is one of the most used technology products in the history of the world. It’s an iconic social media brand,” Zuckerberg said.
Given the firm’s family of applications, like as WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as its work in virtual and augmented reality, it no longer symbolises what the company does. “I’m delighted to disclose that our business is now Meta,” Zuckerberg said, “to represent who we are and the future we aim to build.”
This implies that Meta will now hold the Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram family of applications, as well as its Reality Labs, which is constructing the metaverse.
This was one of the most anticipated events, as Facebook was expected to reveal the company’s new name as well as spell out its vision for the metaverse it is creating. This comes at a time when the firm has been criticised for having a harmful influence on teenagers, as shown in a Wall Street Journal exposé.
While many may criticise the timing of the metaverse conversation in light of the recent scandal, Zuckerberg stated that he believes in “what we are developing and how technology can make life better.”
Internal papers obtained by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen showed the social media giant’s multiple blunders and struggles with content moderation, particularly in multilingual nations like India, which has over 340 million members.
Meta-branding
Facebook, or Meta, as it is now known, is significantly investing in the metaverse. During this week’s earnings call, the business said that it will invest $10 billion in Reality Labs this year to help develop the metaverse.
In addition, the business would spend $150 million to train artists in new ways to use the metaverse. “Right now, our brand is so closely associated with one product that it can’t possibly reflect everything we’re doing right now, let alone in the future.” “I hope we’re regarded as a metaverse company over time,” Zuckerberg added. “I want to base our work and our identity on what we’re moving toward.”
“From now on, we will be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first. That means that over time you won’t need a Facebook account to use our other services. As our new brand starts showing up in our products, I hope people around the world come to know the Meta brand and the future we stand for,” he said.
To reflect this, Facebook said that beginning in Q4 2021, it would disclose Facebook Reality Labs as a separate reporting division in its financial reports.
What is the company’s strategy for constructing it?
The goal of the metaverse is to make it more immersive, so that individuals can sense one other’s presence instead of chatting through mobile applications.
This would entail establishing many digital avatars for various occasions, constructing your own area, making it simple to teleport from one platform to another, and including security and safety features into the platform. Virtual reality platforms, AR glasses, computers, and even phones may be used to access the metaverse. Horizon, an online gaming tool, is the company’s own virtual reality platform.
“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,” Zuckerberg said.
The business will sell the devices at a reduced price to make them more accessible. While the corporation will give developers and artists lesser costs, it will need to maintain some prices high to guarantee that “they don’t lose too much money” along the way.
“Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers,” Zuckerberg said.
The acronym for the five major American internet giants — Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google – changes unceremoniously from FAANG to the even less appetising MAANG when the world’s most recognisable social media company changes its name. On social media, it has elicited a wide range of emotions, from ‘likes’ to ‘mad red faces.’
