Facebook, the beleaguered social media company, has announced that is renaming itself under a new parent company name called Meta.
It was reported earlier this month that Facebook was interested in rebranding itself in order to divorce itself from being seen as "just a social media company." Instead, as founder Mark Zuckerberg spent an hour explaining, the company's big focus is the Metaverse.
This is why Facebook has appropriately renamed itself as Meta, a company that will focus on the metaverse and other future technologies. Meanwhile, social media services like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp will become brands under the Meta umbrella.
In fact, Zuckerberg announced that in the future, customers will not have to use Facebook at all to work with its Metaverse products. To sideline its flagship app is a dramatic step for the former social media company.
Rebranding is not new in the tech industry. Google, for example, created a parent company called Alphabet to which Google is just one brand under its umbrella. Likewise, Meta will exist as an umbrella company where historic Facebook brands exist and new metaverse technologies will be developed under.
But at the end of the day, a new name will not change Facebook or Instagram. But it's clear that Zuckerberg's interest is now fully invested in the metaverse, not social media.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
