The already tarnished image of Facebook has recently got bad dents.
A name change should now help to realign the tech giant.
Menlo Park - A major change could be imminent for social media giant Facebook.
A renaming should now save the reputation of the ailing group.
The Facebook brand is actually one of the ten most valuable in the world.
But the company has suffered a lot in the past few months.
Apparently so much that company founder Mark Zuckerberg will take a radical step in the coming week to convey the far-reaching ambitions of the group more clearly to the outside world.
Facebook wants to be more than just social media
In any case, the technology portal “The Verge”, which is well-networked in Silicon Valley, reported on Wednesday that the Facebook group wanted to change its company name.
In order to focus on the virtual world “Metaverse”, Zuckerberg will announce the name change at the “Facebook Connect 2021” conference next week.
The change should make it clear that Facebook is more than just social media.
Facebook does not want to comment on the report.
"We do not comment," said a Facebook spokesman for the German press agency.
A denial sounds different.
Even within the top management, only a small group was inaugurated, writes "The Verge".
From Facebook to Meta
The Facebook group not only includes the social network, but also the WhatsApp messenger service and the Instagram photo and video service. Oculus is also part of the Facebook empire. The division manufactures virtual reality glasses, including the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest lines. So far, these different brands have been overshadowed by Facebook. Only Instagram appears independently in the "Brandz" list of Kantar in 18th place. The experts estimate the market value at almost 83 billion.
According to The Verge report, renaming the group would likely position the Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company.
A hot candidate for the new name is "Meta".
The internet domain meta.com is currently redirecting to the meta.org website.
This is the homepage of a biomedical research project that was developed under the direction of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
These were founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
Apple, Google, Snapchat: name changes are not uncommon
Facebook would not be the first Silicon Valley corporation to change its company name if the direction of the company expanded.
For example, after the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007, Apple deleted the word “computer” from the company name.
At the time, the iPod music player alone was making more sales than the Macintosh computers.
Google reorganized itself in 2015 under the umbrella of a holding company called Alphabet.
The Internet company wanted to signal that it not only operates a search engine and a cloud business, but also has ambitions for driverless cars, health solutions and other high-tech areas.
And Snapchat renamed itself Snap Inc. in 2016.
At the same time, the company began to call itself a "camera company".
By changing the name of the group, Facebook would underline its ambitions that go beyond conventional social networks.
Months ago, for example, Zuckerberg announced the creation of a “Metaverse”.
This should be a virtual environment, as already described in science fiction novels.
Zuckerberg believes that with the rapid development of hardware and glasses for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), this idea is no longer just a dream.
On Monday, the company announced that it would create 10,000 new, highly qualified jobs in the European Union over the next five years.
These should then build up the virtual world "Metaverse".
Facebook whistleblower damaged the image
A motive for the renaming could also be the desire to improve the tarnished image of Facebook. The whistleblower Frances Haugen had accused the group of having brushed aside concerns raised internally. According to the concerns, Instagram should exacerbate the problems of every third young girl with their own body image and even trigger suicidal thoughts in some young people. The allegations of the former Facebook manager Haugen reinforce Facebook critics in the US Congress who are campaigning for the group to be broken up.
Meanwhile, Facebook is preparing that after the first wave of publications, a second boost will come to the public.
In the past six weeks you have seen how documents can be incorrectly characterized, wrote the Facebook press office on Twitter.
“Obviously, not every employee at Facebook is a manager;
not every opinion is the position of the company. "
(dpa)
