At the Facebook Connect 2021 event held on October 28, Mark Zuckerberg made a big announcement that Facebook was changing its name: from now on, it will be called Meta, in reference to the metaverse. This new name brings together all the company’s products under the same banner: Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus and Portal. In terms of design, the company has a new name, but also a new logo, halfway between the infinity symbol and the shape of virtual reality headsets.
If the announcement of the new identity of the group has caused a lot of reaction on social networks, leading to many Memes and other trolls, other Internet users have quickly made the parallel with the conflicts that Facebook is currently facing. Indeed, the group is pointed in the story of the Facebook Papers, which deplores the mismanagement of information and the loss of control of the algorithm that regulates content on Facebook. Could this be a way for the company to divert the attention of users? It’s hard to say.
WHAT IS THE METAVERSE, SO COVETED BY MARK ZUCKERBERG?
The metaverse is an immersive experience in a three-dimensional virtual environment, through which users can socialize via an avatar or a hologram. Behind the change of identity of the Facebook group is therefore a specific goal: “the objective of Meta will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and develop businesses,” says the company. After revolutionizing exchanges with apps like Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp, the company wants to move beyond 2D screens to more immersive experiences.
The metaverse is an embodied internet where you are in the experience, not just looking at it, confirms Mark Zuckerberg.
At the same time, the group says that the metaverse will not be built by a single company, but that its goal is “to accelerate the development of the foundational technologies, social platforms and creative tools to bring the metaverse to life, and to weave these technologies through our social media applications.”
WHAT ABOUT OTHER FACEBOOK GROUP APPLICATIONS?
With the arrival of Meta, what are the consequences for the social applications used on a daily basis? At first glance, there are not really any: the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp applications will keep the original name and the users’ accounts will not be affected by this new identity.
On the other hand, the Oculus brand, bought in 2014 by the Facebook group (Meta), should fade away to take the name Meta Quest. The same goes for Portal, which will be renamed Meta Portal in the coming months.
One thing is for sure, the metaverse race is definitely on. It remains to be seen which of the tech giants will prevail in this new universe that offers an almost infinite field of possibilities.
