The new Facebook name has officially dropped, and it’s only a little bit dystopian.
Introducing: Meta.
Many brands have sheepishly looked to rebrands to save face in the past, and now we can officially add Facebook to that list. After news broke last week that the polarizing platform had a rebrand in the works, the much-maligned Mark Zuckerberg took to his beloved interweb at Facebook’s Connect 2021 conference this morning to announce his company’s new identity.
Zuckerberg told his fiefdom that the name “Facebook” no longer adequately encompasses all that the conglomerate has become and all that it aspires to be, hence the megalomaniacal refresh. The general idea is that Meta will serve as the umbrella company in which all of Facebook’s other apps will live. “I hope we are seen as a metaverse company,” he shares, not not like a robot.
If you haven’t been paying attention in recent weeks to the spate of bad news for the embattled social media hub, Facebook wants to pivot and be known as the one-stop for all of your metaverse needs. The metaverse, of course, is a shared virtual playground that exists on the internet that folks can access using VR equipment.
With the new name comes a new futuristic logo, of course, meaning the retro Facebook “thumbs up” icon has been rendered obsolete and cast off to obscurity—pour one out! This Meta logo was designed specifically to live in motion and in 3D, forming a continuous loop and shape meant to evoke the letter M for “Meta” as well as an infinity sign to symbolize the “infinite horizons in the metaverse.”
Obviously, everyone and their hyper-online aunt are weighing in on the subject with the hottest of takes, but all I have left to say is I’m scared.