Facebook is planning to rebrand the company with a new name, and this unveiling might be done at the Facebook annual Connect Conference on 28th October or potentially even sooner.
According to The Verge, the coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on 28th October, 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.
Facebook, which intends to be known for more than social media, announced its plans to recruit 10,000 jobs in Europe for the next five years to help build the metaverse.
According to the blog post, Facebook is at the start of a journey to help build the next computing platform. Working with others, we’re developing what is often referred to as the metaverse — a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality. At its heart is the idea that by creating a greater sense of “virtual presence”, interacting online can become much closer to the experience of interacting in person. The metaverse has the potential to help unlock access to new creative, social, and economic opportunities. And Europeans will be shaping it right from the start.
The rebranding comes at a time when Facebook is facing criticism over a range of scandals, including a series of internal documents leaked by a whistleblower, Frances Haugen, who testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Facebook is still under antitrust scrutiny by the U.S. government, reported TechCrunch
What is Metaverse
Metaverse generally refers to digital spaces which are made more lifelike by the use of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR).
The metaverse is a concept coined in Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson’s 1992 sci-fi novel, the term refers to a convergence of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space.
According to Mark Zuckerberg: “It’s a virtual environment. We can be present with people in digital spaces. And you can kind of think about this as an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at. And we believe that this is going to be the successor to the mobile Internet.”
Insight
This move by Facebook is not a strange one as it is not uncommon in Silicon Valley for companies to change their names when expanding their services. Earlier in 2015, Google established Alphabet Inc. as a holding company to expand beyond its search and advertising businesses, to oversee various other ventures ranging from its autonomous vehicle unit and health technology to providing internet services in remote areas.