Facebook changes name to Meta

Facebook has rebranded and changed its name to Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed on Thursday at the Connect 2021 conference. 

He noted that Meta will bring together all the company’s apps and technologies under one new company brand, adding that Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.

The company claimed in a release that the metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world.

“It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together — and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world. It’s the next evolution in a long line of social technologies, and it’s ushering in a new chapter for our company,” it stated.

“I’m proud of what we’ve built so far, and I’m excited about what comes next — as we move beyond what’s possible today, beyond the constraints of screens, beyond the limits of distance and physics, and towards a future where everyone can be present with each other, create new opportunities and experience new things. It is a future that is beyond anyone company and that will be made by all of us.”

“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future. Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company, and I want to anchor our work and identity on what we’re building toward,” said Zuckerberg

He also shared more about the progress the company is making with some of the foundational elements across its AR & VR technologies.

● VR news: VR is at an inflection point led by the release of Quest 2. Games are booming, VR is getting more social, fitness is becoming a hot vertical, and we’re building out more ways VR can be used as a work device. And, we continue to invest in the developer community to help them build and monetize their applications through new tools and features.

● Augmented Reality news: As VR hits an inflection point, we’re investing in the core technology and work needed to bring fully-featured AR glasses to market. While we work on the hardware to make AR glasses, we’re cultivating the content, capabilities, and communities that can enrich Facebook experiences today and illuminate the path to AR glasses ahead.

Facebook’s annual Connect conference brings together augmented and virtual reality developers, content creators, marketers, and others to celebrate the industry’s momentum and growth. This year’s virtual event explored what experiences in the metaverse could feel like over the next decade — from social connection to entertainment, gaming, fitness, work, education and commerce. We also announced new tools to help people build for the metaverse, including Presence Platform, which will enable new mixed reality experiences on Quest 2, and a $150-million investment in immersive learning to train the next generation of creators.