In the latest development, Mark Zuckerberg is all set to change the name of its billion-dollar tech giant Facebook next week. The rebranding comes amidst the privacy and user data issues emerging in the past few months. The news was confirmed by a source close to the matter.
Though the name change announcement is scheduled to be made by the Chief Executive Officer of Facebook on October 28th at its annual Connect conference, reports suggest the same to be done earlier than that.
When contacted for a response on the update, Facebook said it will not react to any “rumour or speculation”.
In the last few weeks, Facebook is facing backlash over its business practices, especially by the US government.
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The change in name is expected to improve the social media platform’s position in the global market and place its many companies under one parent organization. WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus and others would be a part of this main company, as per Verge.
This isn’t the first time when a company has reorganized its companies under one brand name. Earlier, Google placed its products under the holding company Alphabet Inc in 2015 when it decided to expand its business services. Since then, it established an autonomous vehicle unit and health technology unit of the parent company to offer internet services in remote areas, inaccessible by local web services.
Facebook’s plan to rebrand also puts light on its aspiration of creating an online environment where people can move and communicate with each other through different devices in a virtual world- being termed as a so-called metaverse.
With its 3 billion user strength, the social media giant is looking forward to connecting them via different devices and apps- for which it has already invested heavily in virtual reality and augmented reality.
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The hiring fever has touched Facebook too as it announced that it will open 10,000 positions in the coming 5 years in the European Union to aid in the metaverse build.
“Metaverse” is becoming a buzzing term by companies including Microsoft with Zuckerberg taking a keen interest in it since July. The word was first coined 3 decades back in a dystopian novel.
