Facebook Goes META: The Social Media Giant Changes Its Name

Facebook goes META, showcasing its vision for a new future of social media, online gaming, and work so let’s find out more about the latest upgrade of the company in our cryptocurrency news.

Facebook renamed its parent company as a part of the latest metaverse push and the company announced that the move is meant towards its metaverse-themed Facebook Connect keynote today. The social media giant saw the growing metaverse as its business future and the company made the increasing focus formal by announcing that it will change its name to Meta.

Announcing @Meta — the Facebook company’s new name. Meta is helping to build the metaverse, a place where we’ll play and connect in 3D. Welcome to the next chapter of social connection. pic.twitter.com/ywSJPLsCoD

— Meta (@Meta) October 28, 2021

Meta will be the name for the company but it appears that some of the apps and services like Facebook and Whatsapp will maintain the current branding under the new name. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news in a streaming keynote for its Facebook connect event which was focused on the metaverse. The move was initially reported by The Verge but the final name hadn’t been leaked ahead. Zuckerberg said:

“I think we’re basically moving from being Facebook first as a company to being metaverse first.”

As Facebook goes META many changes will occur. The term describes a future evolution of the internet where fiat apps and websites that we currently use are going to get replaced by 3D environments and shared spaces that will make interactions more immersive. The metaverse will not be one thing but will be a conceptual collection of an open world and settings joined by interoperable assets. The collectible NFT assets could be turned into 3D avatars which can be brought into all sorts of web spaces. Facebook is already one of the biggest companies in tech and it now wants to lead the charge into the metaverse, announcing that it will invest $50 million over the next few years into research and partnerships with a goal to hire 10,000 people in the course of five years as well.

The company is aware of criticisms in regards to privacy, security, and things like being able to control fake news and hate speech. The company said that it will help build the metaverse responsibly and highlighted its focus on privacy and partnerships with external companies and creators. Some in the crypto community are still skeptical about Facebook’s promises given its history. The social media giant is betting big on the metaverse and it goes far beyond its name change. The keynote address outlined potential 3D social interactions with the ability to work on the metaverse and learn how NFTs can be used to represent collectibles.