Facebook Meta is here. Why? Mark Zuckerberg explains

Mark Zuckerberg has been doing a lot with Facebook in the last few years and now, he has even changed the company’s name. It’s called Meta, and the services of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus form its Metaverse. It sounds cool and also seems like a way for Zuckerberg to play some rebranding game to shed all of the negative attention his company has been gaining lately. However, Zuckerberg clarifies the reasons why Facebook Meta is here and the reasoning behind this name change.

In an interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg said that the name change is all about recognizing the shift that’s already going on in the company. “I think we’re basically moving from being Facebook first as a company to being metaverse first,” said Zuckerberg.

Meta name to represent Metaverse of services

“I think that there was just a lot of confusion and awkwardness about having the company brand be also the brand of one of the social media apps. I think it’s helpful for people to have a relationship with a company that is different from the relationship with any specific one of the products, that can kind of supersede all of that,” said Zuckerberg.

“When I thought about when was the best time to try to make that shift, it’s kind of like as soon as possible once you realize that you want to do that. So that’s what led us down this path. We’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I formally kicked off the project earlier this year. It was a little over more than six months ago. But this is a debate that we’ve been having for a long time inside the company, about whether we should do this,” he added.

He also dismissed any intentions of this move trying to take away the attention from the negative attention the company has been gaining lately. “[It] had nothing to bear on this. Even though I think some people might want to make that connection, I think that’s sort of a ridiculous thing. If anything, I think that this is not the environment that you would want to introduce a new brand in.”

He goes on to stress on the fact that Meta’s vision is to create a digital metaverse where all of its services will help people transport completely into the digital world. Facebook, WhatsApp, Oculus and Instagram will play key roles in Meta’s metaverse.

The move is similar to Google creating Alphabet as its parent company, holding all other Google services together. However, while Google’s founders stepped aside at the time, Zuckerberg will oversee Meta and all its services.