Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced Meta, which brings together the apps and technologies under one new company brand at Connect 2021. The rebranding announcement came hot on the heels of the social network facing US regulator’s criticism related to privacy and security issues following a whistleblowing incident.
“To reflect who we are and the future we hope to build, I’m proud to share that our company is now Meta,” Zuckerberg wrote in the Founder’s letter, 2021.
The owner of the social media giant Meta (known as Facebook since foundation in 2004) further commented, “As we embark on this next chapter, I’ve thought a lot about what this means for our company and our identity. We’re a company that focuses on connecting people. While most tech companies focus on how people interact with technology, we’ve always focused on building technology so people can interact with each other.Today we’re seen as a social media company. Facebook is one of the most used technology products in the history of the world. It’s an iconic social media brand.”
“Building social apps will always be important for us, and there’s a lot more to build. But increasingly, it’s not all we do. In our DNA, we build technology to bring people together. The metaverse is the next frontier in connecting people, just like social networking was when we got started.”
Recently, Frances Haugen, company’s former employee turned whistleblower revealed certain documents to the US regulators accusing the company of spreading divisiveness due to its algorithms and not making changes as they prioritise their profits over anything. Regarding the controversy Zuckerberg had shared his point of view during their earnings call.
“I believe large organizations should be scrutinized and I’d much rather live in a society where they are than one where they can’t be. Good faith criticism helps us get better. But my view is that what we’re seeing is a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our company,” he wrote on his official page.
“We have made massive investments in safety and security with more than 40,000 people and we are on track to spend more than $5 billion on safety and security in 2021. I believe that’s more than any other tech company, even adjusted for scale. We set the standard for transparency with our quarterly enforcement reports and tools like the political ads archive,” he added.
Some fundamental changes following the rebranding will be:
1. Reporting on the business will be in two different segments: one for the family of apps and one for the work on future platforms.
2. Work on the metaverse is not just one of these segments. The metaverse encompasses both the social experiences and future technology.
“Our mission remains the same – it’s still about bringing people together. Our apps and their brands aren’t changing either. We’re still the company that designs technology around people. 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,” he said.
According to him, from now on, it 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 hope people around the world come to know the Meta brand and the future we stand for.”
The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world.
What will Meta offer?
1. It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world.
2. It’s the next evolution in a long line of social technologies, and it’s ushering in a new chapter for our company.
“In the metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine — get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create — as well as completely new experiences that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today,” Zuckerberg revealed.
The official website has been updating about the way ahead with all new additions and investments.
“We also announced new tools to help people build for the metaverse, including Presence Platform, which will enable new mixed reality experiences on Quest 2, and a $150 million investment in immersive learning to train the next generation of creators,” it said.
