Looks Toward Building a “Metaverse,” the Future of Technology

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced last week that his company will be called “Meta” to reflect a larger virtual world beyond just the social media platform.

The social media platform will continue as Facebook, but will now be positioned as one of many products under the umbrella parent company, Meta.

Meta is derived from the Greek word “beyond” and reflects Zuckerberg’s vision about the future of technology.

“It symbolizes that there is always more to build,” Zuckerberg said at the annual company Connect conference last week. “There’s always a next chapter to the story.”

In building the “metaverse,” it will work toward creating a larger virtual world where people work, play, learn and connect with their friends and family.

At the Connect conference, Zuckerberg teased new products with a series of social, gaming, and workplace concepts for the metaverse. Think along the lines of sending a holographic image of yourself to a concert with a friend attending in real life or attending virtual meetings with remote colleagues.

Why the big change?

Taking on a new name embodies any company’s future ambitions, but some experts say that the rebranding might be in response to the company’s recent woes resulting from a whistleblower leaking hundreds of internal documents.

Says Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business, “A rebranding could be part of an effort to overhaul Facebook’s reputation and turn the page following a series of PR nightmares, including misinformation on its platforms, content moderation failures and revelations about the negative effect its products have on some users’ mental health.”

But for Zuckerberg, the future of technology means expansion and goes way beyond Facebook.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about our identity as we begin this next chapter. Facebook is one of the most used products in the history of the world. It is an iconic social media brand, but increasingly it just doesn’t encompass everything that we do,” said Zuckerberg. “If we all work at it, and within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers,” he continued.

What does the name change mean for consumers?

Despite the new parent company name, little changes for consumers as it pertains to their Facebook accounts.

In addition to Facebook, other entities such as photo app, Instagram and messaging app, WhatsApp will be a part of Meta.

The company announced in a press release that it plans to begin trading under the stock ticker “MVRS” on December 1.