Social networking giant Facebook Inc. is continuing with its plans to extend its reach beyond social platforms into the metaverse, and has decided to rename the company Meta to accompany these plans. Facebook is now just one of the company's products, created in another era, in another technological context, and it is time to look to the future.
The name change was announced on Thursday by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the annual Facebook Connect conference. In a press release, the company said the change is part of a vision to build a "metaverse" that connects social experiences online and the physical world.
"I think we're moving from a Facebook-centric society to a metaverse-centric society," commented Mark Zuckerberg in an interview with The Verge. The founder added:
We wanted a new brand identity that was in line with the vision of the future we're working on […] People think of us as a social networking company, but we think of ourselves as a technology company that creates technologies to help people connect with each other.
The name change will see the entire Facebook business expand into the new Meta brand, which will bring together the company's social networking platforms and other services. Facebook's applications, Facebook and WhatsApp, will retain their current branding, according to reports.
Facebook shares will trade under the ticker symbol MVRS from December 1.
Facebook is now a metaverse-first company
The news of the platform's rebrand comes at a time when Facebook is expanding its brand. The company first announced the formation of a new team dedicated to developing its metaverse in June and has since continued to push this goal forward. Last month, Facebook launched a $50 million investment fund to build its virtual environment.
The term 'metaverse' has become popular as companies seek to build bridges between the digital and physical worlds. As such, the term, which originated in science fiction literature and was coined in the 1990s, refers to the convergence of physical, augmented and virtual reality in a shared online space.
Many in the technology space use the word to describe the future evolution of the internet, where the applications and websites we use today will be replaced by 3D environments. Crypto-currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are envisaged as crucial pieces in these environments.
For example, NFTs could become 3D avatars that owners could take into all sorts of web spaces, whether for work, play, exercise or social interaction. Similarly, digital currencies could become the preferred form of monetisation for these environments, with which people can buy and sell different digital items.
In a previous interview, Zuckerberg had already mentioned that Facebook's metaverse vision is much broader than just the idea of virtual reality. The company's idea with the metaverse "is to help people offer and feel a much stronger sense of presence with the people they care about" when they share online.
Interoperability, an asset for NFTs and crypto-currencies
Mr Zuckerberg stressed the importance of what has been learned in the past. He explained that today's systems are application-centric rather than people-centric, that the items you buy do not belong to you, that Apple and Google shop commissions are so high that many creators cannot participate, and that what you buy on one platform is not accessible on another – the equivalent of buying a shirt at a football match and not being able to take it out of the stadium.
He insisted on interoperability and knowing that you own the digital objects you buy and can use them in many contexts.
"You want to know that YOU own your items, not a platform.
That your items will be useful in many contexts, that you won't be chained to one world or one platform.
This will not only require technical work, like some of the important projects happening around crypto-currencies and NFTs in the community, but also the creation of ecosystems, the development of standards and new forms of governance."
In its announcement on Thursday, Meta confirmed that its metaverse will feature support for NFTs, possibly based on Ethereum, reports CoinDesk. Facebook metaverse product manager Vishal Shah said the company's aim is to "provide a way for as many creators as possible to create a business in the metaverse."
This will make it easier for people to sell limited edition digital objects like the NFT, display them in their digital spaces and even securely resell them to the next person.
Shah added that metaverse businesses will be able to sell physical and digital goods, as well as experiences and services. "There will be many different types of creators in the metaverse. Creators who create digital objects, creators who offer services and experiences, and those who build entire worlds as game creators do today," he said.
The monetisation plans could also be part of Facebook's crypto-currency project. Despite facing opposition from regulators around the world, the company has not given up on its digital currency project. A few weeks ago, the company launched a pilot programme to test its Novi digital wallet, which will not yet include Diem, Facebook's native stablecoin.
As part of the rebranding announcement, David Marcus, Facebook's head of payments and financial services, said on Twitter that the company was bringing all its payments and financial services units and products, including Facebook Pay, under the Novi brand.
