Meta, a company that will focus on the metaverse and other future technologies. In the meantime, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp will become brands under the Meta umbrella.
In an elaborated Facebook post, Andrew Bosworth, CTO, Meta, explained the Facebook’s plan to consolidate its various technology verticals under one name.
“One year ago, we changed our organisation name from AR/VR to Facebook Reality Labs as a way to encompass the expansive work we do. We’re updating our name again to Reality Labs for the very same reason — to better make the connection that our org is building the technology that will enable the future metaverse,” Bosworth wrote.
“VR will be the most immersive way for people to access the metaverse and as we look toward our goal of bringing 1B people into VR, we want to make it clear that Quest is a Meta product. For this reason, we’re simplifying our brand architecture and shifting away from the Oculus brand for our hardware,” he added.
Starting in early 2022, we will see the shift from Oculus Quest from Facebook to Meta Quest and Oculus App to Meta Quest App over time.
He further added, “We all have a strong attachment to the Oculus brand, and this was a very difficult decision to make. While we’re changing the brand of the hardware, Oculus will continue to be a core part of our DNA and will live on in things like software and developer tools.”
Bosworth also stated that Meta Horizon will be expanding to encompass all of the company’s “first-party immersive social experiences,” shifting from Oculus to “Horizon Home, Horizon Venues, Horizon Friends, and Horizon Profile.”
Over the next few months, a phased rollout of the brand across all the relevant products and services — including Facebook Portal to Meta Porta will be witnessed.
“This shift from one brand identity to another is not a trivial one, and it must be done thoughtfully to ensure brand equity and transparency,” he wrote.
“While our organisation name is changing, our mission remains the same: “to build the tools that help people feel connected anytime, anywhere.” When we wrote this mission statement, we wanted to ensure it reflected our work but was flexible enough to grow alongside our org. And it has — even as we’ve expanded to include new teams like Metaverse, AI, Workplace, and Developer Platform and expanded our scope and remit. Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll cascade these name changes to Reality Labs Research and other teams, as well as to our internal and external sites,” Bosworth added.
In an official statement, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook said that the company is now looking at and reporting on the business as two different segments: one for the family of apps and one for the work on future platforms.
“Our work on the metaverse is not just one of these segments. The metaverse encompasses both the social experiences and future technology. As we broaden our vision, it’s time for us to adopt a new brand. To reflect who we are and the future we hope to build, I’m proud to share that our company is now Meta,” said Zuckerberg.
He added that the mission remains the same — it’s still about bringing people together. The apps and their brands aren’t changing either and the company still designs technology around people.
He continued, “But all of our products, including our apps, now share a new vision: to help bring the metaverse to life. And now we have a name that reflects the breadth of what we do. From now on, we will be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first. That means that over time you won’t need a Facebook account to use our other services. As our new brand starts showing up in our products.”
“I used to study Classics, and the word “meta” comes from the Greek word meaning “beyond”. For me, it symbolizes that there is always more to build, and there is always a next chapter to the story. Ours is a story that started in a dorm room and grew beyond anything we imagined; into a family of apps that people use to connect with one another, to find their voice, and to start businesses, communities, and movements that have changed the world,” he added.
Ashwini Deshpande, Co-Founder, Director, Elephant Design – “Metaverse is the most discussed concept of recent times. For a house of brands in the content & media space, Meta is an ace of a name at this point in time. It liberates the house from the perception of being social media bouquet into future tech groups. The squat infinity loop is rather unremarkable and overused. Since the name is so future-ready and so vast in its potential, perhaps no visual identity could have been enough to describe the scale and possibilities”.
Sidharth Singh – Co-founder CupShup – “For the company that brought out the revolution of social media, it’s not just a name now — it’s a statement and a bold one for that matter. Over the years, the way the company grew in multitude and has revolutionized technology in a way that no one saw it coming. Being a tech giant, Facebook has made an impact in the advertising ecosystem that can’t go unnoticed and is now a norm in the sector. From VR to AI, the company has ingrained itself in science and technology for the better and good — and now with their new stance, it would be interesting to see what they build for the future”.
Siddharth Devnani, Co-Founder & Partner, SoCheers said, “Looking at the growing future of digital and virtual reality, Facebook has been investing in such platforms and technologies, since quite some time now. They have been talking about the constantly blurring lines between the physical and the virtual world and how they have been at the centre of it all. Unfortunately, despite all these efforts, Facebook has also received a backlash on misinformation and privacy in the last few years. Therefore, in their effort to keep their users secure and intact along with growing from more than just a social media networking company, the name change signifies its philosophy of metaverse. So, the fairly bold name ‘Meta’, officially drives the company and the users into this new direction. Having said that, it is a wait and watch game on how they do justice to this name in terms of building the metaverse and doing it right, balancing the best interest of users, advertisers and themselves.”
