Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook announced on Thursday that the tech company is changing its name to “Meta” to cover the expanding technology and its role in what it calls the “metaverse.” The company owns many technologies and apps including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus VR. In July, Zuckerberg told The Verge that in the next few years, Meta will “effectively transform from those who see us as primarily a social media company to become a super-reverse company. ”
What is metaverse? How Zuckerberg explained it in the founder’s letter today makes it like the next level of virtual reality: “You will be able to teleport in holograms to be at the office without going to work, at a concert with you friends or in your parents’ living room to catch up. ”
“Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach one billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars in digital commerce, and support millions of jobs for creators and creators,” said Zuckerberg. Developers”. could lie ahead and how seriously the company is invested in this pivot. Earlier this week, the company said it would spend $10 billion over the next year developing the technologies needed to build its metaverse.
What does this mean for Facebook? “Starting with our results for the fourth quarter of 2021, we plan to report on two areas of activity: Family of Apps and Reality Labs,” notice said . “We also intend to begin trading under the new stock ticker we have reserved, MVRS, on December 1. Today’s announcement does not affect how we use or share data. ”
Why do we care. The rebranding comes just as the whistleblower’s revelations expose Facebook to its practices, ethics, and social impact, which could give people something new to talk about. and helped wipe out the response from whistleblower Frances Haugen storing internal documents under the rug.
As Zuckerberg alluded to in his founder’s letter, Meta’s metaverse could present exciting new opportunities, especially for digital goods. This could be a decent extension for brands, like Asics or Dolce & Gabbana , they tried their hand at NFT. This also raises the question of whether the metaverse will become the new frontier for advertising (especially when Oculus tested ads in VR ).
Besides, users may be more used to virtual alternatives for traditional in-person services, such as medical appointments, were introduced during the pandemic. Supermarkets – Facebook/Meta or otherwise – could be a viable destination to host such services, as Facebook is already the go-to destination for discovering local businesses.
However, from a branding point of view, we as marketers simply cannot ignore branding failure and “Meta” being just one.
