By: Lolo Mhlanga
The social media platform Facebook Inc is rebranding as Meta. The company changes as they continue to battle with critics from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions, and the policing of abuses on its platforms.
Speaking at the company’s live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “the new name reflected its focus on building the metaverse”.
“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future,” Zuckerberg added.
According to the tech giant, the change would bring together all its apps and technologies while not changing its corporate structure.
“It is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do. From now on, we’re going to be metaverse first, not Facebook first.”
The metaverse, a term first coined in a dystopian novel three decades ago and now attracting buzz in Silicon Valley, refers broadly to the idea of a shared virtual environment which can be accessed by people using different devices.
On Thursday, the company unveiled a new sign at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, replacing its thumbs-up “Like” logo with a blue-infinity space.
