From MySpace counterfeit to internet megaforce – the growth of Facebook has been the foundation of founder Mark Zuckerberg’s empire and a source of controversy basically since its inception in 2004. Since then, Facebook Inc. has not just become the world’s largest social media website, but it’s also acquired many of its competitors – the most popular being Instagram and WhatsApp.
Now, in the eye of a storm caused by a ton of negative press, The Verge has reported that Facebook Inc. will be changing its name ‘to reflect its focus on building the metaverse’.
We’ll dive into more of that later, but first and foremost, this may not mean that the website itself, often used to share minion memes and political misinformation, will also rebrand. Instead, it’s more likely that it will just be Facebook Inc. (the company behind the website) that gets a new name.
Though we can only speculate until the Zuck makes the official announcement, (expected October 28th) it’s believed this move comes ahead of a shift in focus.
Google actually did something similar back in 2015 with their parent company – now known as Alphabet.
Often, when a company starts trying new things and wants to separate its entities, it will change its name to avoid confusion and/or further scrutiny, (if said company is in hot water) in order to sell or market its products or services.
In this case, Facebook is looking to expand into the aforementioned “Metaverse,” and no – this isn’t where multiple Spidermans came together to defeat a supervillain.
The Metaverse is actually a term initially coined by sci-fi author Neal Stephenson to describe a virtual world separate from a dystopian real world. Now, it’s essentially what tech junkies refer to as the digital, and often lifelike space in which people can explore and meet virtually (VR or AR).
This is something that the Silicon Valley playmaker has proven his interest in several times before through purchasing VR tech company Oculus in 2014.
Hes’ even teased something called Horizon, an unreleased AR company that is rumoured to have been in development for years – but, who knows.
Until he makes an official announcement all of this is hearsay – though it is pretty believable considering the wide-ranging scrutiny the company has gotten for its lack of content moderation by global lawmakers.
Of course, we’ll keep you all updated as more information rolls in, but until then – stay alert folks. A cringy Zuckerberg announcement video may be in our very near future.
