Facebook has rebranded itself to - Meta - to better reflect its shift towards the metaverse, a shared digital space where people can interact with each other and with objects.
Meta is the new parent company, under which Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and others will operate.
Introducing Meta, Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to life. The firm has already announced the plan to invest 50M dollars to create a responsible metaverse.
Facebook which also owns the Oculus Virtual Reality gaming platform, doesn’t want to be left behind or even seen as second in the race to be a part of the metaverse. Attempt to rename itself is to align the company with the focus on building the metaverse, which Mark Zuckerberg clearly sees as becoming a reality sooner or later.
Image: Facebook
"The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world. It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together" wrote the company
in the announcement.
The rebranding also signals that Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be known for more than just social media. Also, FB has gathered much negative light because of its apparent whistleblowers which gives Zuckerberg all the more reason to shift his brand from just being a social media platform.
Interestingly, a little-Known Cryptocurrency Mana jumped over 400% after the Facebook rebranding announcement. Launched in 2017, Mana is the native digital currency of a self-proclaimed metaverse platform Decentraland.
At Decentraland platform users can create virtual lands and buy them. Apart from buying a property users can also upgrade it to an environment of their choice – like casinos, art galleries, and theme parks. The property ownership is purchased through NFTs. Social media giant's big bet on the metaverse has also raised interest in many other firms that focus around that space. In the crypto industry, the currencies dealing in that space saw a rapid rise in investor interest, which pushed the value soon after the announcement by Facebook.