Several days ago, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was rebranding itself and changing it’s corporate name to Meta. The move reflects the company’s desire to move away from being viewed primarily as a social media company and is now shifting their focus towards the metaverse.
In this blog post, we break down the situation, including what the metaverse is and the reasoning behind the rebrand.
What is the Metaverse?
The term metaverse has been thrown around a lot this year, with many large companies investing heavily to stake their claim in it.
But what exactly is it?
Simply put, the metaverse is a virtual universe. It combines aspects of virtual reality, social media, ecommerce, and so on. Basically anything you can do in the real world, you’ll eventually be able to do in the metaverse. Recently, the metaverse has become the playground for cryptocurrency and NFTs. In fact, cryptocurrency companies are set to be some of the biggest beneficiaries from the growth of the metaverse, with crypto serving as the main form of currency.
As the technology continues to improve, the lines between the real and virtual worlds will be blurred as users will be able to interact in new and creative ways. For the company formerly known as Facebook, who’s mission is “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together”, the metaverse is the perfect place to do it.
Image from CoinDesk.com
Why Rebrand Now?
It’s rare you see companies with such a recognizable brand name choose to change it. It is important to note that Meta isn’t doing away with the Facebook name entirely, as the social media platform Facebook will maintain its current title. The rebrand to Meta better fits the firm’s direction of being more than a social media company.
In recent years, Meta has invested in virtual and augmented reality, video games, and has plans to further expand into crypto. The name “Meta” was chosen because it shows the company’s commitment to diversifying their properties and building the metaverse.
But the timing of the rebrand may have been influenced by other factors as well.
The company is currently under fire for investigations being carried out by organizations such as the Wall Street Journal, as well as accusations by a whistleblower. All of which claim that the company is knowingly fostering an environment for spreading misinformation and one that is toxic for younger users, particularly teen girls. Add this to previous problems the company has had with data privacy, and it makes sense that the company would want to rebrand at this time.
By changing their corporate name to Meta, the company hopes to avoid the negative association people may have with the name Facebook, especially as the company is looking to launch new business ventures. While the name change alone won’t fix the issues that Meta has had in the past, it does give the company a chance to start anew and hopefully learn from their mistakes. At the very least, it allows their other properties to grow without suffering as much from the perceived brand tax that comes with the Facebook name.
Image from cnet.com
Conclusion
While the metaverse sounds like something pulled straight from science fiction films like The Matrix or Ready Player One, it is very much real and will impact almost all industries in the near future. As marketers, we will need to keep a close eye on the actions of companies like Meta, as well as emerging trends that will affect the metaverse (crypto, NFTs, virtual reality, etc.). Doing so will allow us to provide our clients with the best solutions on how to navigate this new, virtual world.
If you have any questions or concerns about Meta or the metaverse and how it will affect your marketing strategy, contact us using the form below. We’d love to hear from you.
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