The rumors are true. Facebook is changing its name — the company announced a flurry of future-thinking developments as a re-imagination of the leading social media platform, including VR, the metaverse, and the future of tech.
The biggest announcement? Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp will become mere products in a hierarchy of digital businesses organized under a new parent company called Meta. The change was mentioned in the company’s quarterly earnings report on Monday. Facebook’s shuffle echoes Google’s decision to reorganize under parent company Alphabet, which is now home to a handful of tech companies.
As part of the company’s keynote, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off Horizon, which looks and feels like “Roblox for adults.” Maybe a better comparison would be VR Chat or Decentraland, both of which have risen to prominence in online circles. Horizon, like some other online platforms, is expected to support NFTs.
In the spirit of being meta, Mark wants you to know that he knows that you know that the future is on Web3 and the metaverse. That’s part of what makes Facebook’s announcement such a meaningful pivot for the company, which hopes to leave its days of controversy with regulators and media behind as it ventures even further into the digital domain.
As part of that pivot, the company will also leave its highly-familiar $FB ticker behind. On Dec. 1, the company’s ticker will be $MVRS (that’s short for metaverse, ICYMI.) You can read more about Facebook’s new parent company here.