Facebook changes its name to Meta
The newly-rebranded name of Facebook’s parent company has been announced to be Meta on Oct. 29. The company said the change would bring together its different apps and technologies under one new brand.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the company’s live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, said the new name reflected its focus on building the metaverse.
The name change was announced at the Facebook Connect augmented and virtual reality conference. The new name reflects the company’s growing ambitions beyond social media.
Facebook, now known as Meta, has adopted the new moniker, based on the sci-fi term metaverse, to describe its vision for working and playing in a virtual world.
“Today we are seen as a social media company, but in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
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.
In addition to reflecting their vision to be seen as a metaverse, Zuckerberg wants the new name to anchor their work and identity on what they are building towards.
”Meta” was chosen as it means “beyond” and alludes to the social technologies they are building beyond pre-existing digital connections. Accompanying the new company brand is a new logo and color.
The company also said in announcing the new name that it will change its stock ticker from FB to MVRS, effective Dec. 1.
