Facebook plans to change the company’s name in a rebranding effort that will shift the company into focusing on the “metaverse.” The metaverse is a science-fiction term referring to a shared virtual world where things like buildings, land and avatars can be purchased via cryptocurrency.
Rebranding Facebook
Facebook has been under intense scrutiny after former employee Frances Haugen blew the whistle on corrupt practices taking place within the social media company, including turning a blind eye to misinformation for monetary gain. Haugen leaked a wealth of documents to prove this and has testified in front of Congress about the company’s malpractice. As a result, regulators seek to break the company up and public trust has declined in the platform.
The new name has yet to be revealed, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about the change at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28. Zuckerberg wants to stretch out what his company is known for, he said in an interview with the Verge.
“[over the next several years] we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company,” said Zuckerberg.
The Metaverse
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Facebook already has its foot in the tech industry door with its Oculus virtual-reality headsets. It currently has more than 10,000 employees dedicated to building artificial-reality glasses for consumers, something Zuckerberg believes will be as relevant as smartphones are right now.
The company has also made internal movements toward its new priorities. It had already set up a team dedicated to the metaverse this past summer and plans to hire 10,000 more employees to develop the metaverse in Europe. Andrew Bosworth, head of the company’s AR and VR, was recently promoted to chief technology officer.
Zuckerberg is placing great faith in the metaverse, telling the Verge it’s “going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet.”
