Wondering what the metaverse really is? Let's make it simple! "Think of Metaverse as the internet brought to life"
Mark Zuckerberg described it as a 'virtual environment' you can enter instead of just looking at the screen.
Arguably, Facebook's latest move can be the biggest thing that can impact the metaverse since this concept was coined in 1992 by a Fictional Writer, Neal Stephenson.
As a part of a vital rebrand, Facebook has changed its name to Meta. The word "meta" originates from the Greek word meaning "beyond".
The social media giant, which declared the change at the company's annual Connect conference on October 28, announced that the brand name should encompass what it now does as it broadens the reach into newer areas like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
It also made a few major announcements about the metaverse — an online world where you can virtually hang out with friends, learn, shop, play games, work, and much more.
“Right now our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything we are doing today, let alone in the future. Over time, I hope we are seen as a metaverse company, and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards.”
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO & Co-Founder
The company’s rebranding initiative reflects its ambitions about metaverse and its new identity which will mostly revolve around its products, said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, and Co-Founder.
However, its individual platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram won’t undergo any changes. Only the parent company is changing.
The new website
meta.com now shows various sections like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Novi, Portal, Workplace, and Oculus.
With the plan to invest $10 billion in Reality Lab for building metaverse, the company will also spend $150 million to upskill metaverse creators.
“From now on, we 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,” Zuckerberg said.
Further, he also added that Facebook Reality Labs will function as a separate reporting segment in its earning reports from the fourth quarter of 2021.
"We're now looking at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms,” he said.
The company also revealed its new sign on Thursday. Now, the “blue infinity shape” will replace its “blue thumbs up logo”. Zuckerberg said that the company wanted a logo that reflects that users will no longer have to use Facebook to access its other services in the future.