Will Facebook soon no longer be called Facebook?
The famous social network at F on a blue background will keep its identity.
But its Californian parent company, which also controls Instagram apps, WhatsApp and Oculus virtual reality headsets, could rename itself.
According to the American media The Verge, the announcement will take place next week.
Two big news will indeed mark the days to come: the announcement of the group's quarterly results on Monday, and the organization of a conference dedicated to the metaverse strategy on Thursday.
Mark Zuckerberg said at the end of July that "
soon, we will no longer be seen as a group with social networks, but as a group working on the metaverse
".
The founder of Facebook is investing heavily in what he thinks will be the future Internet connection platform, which will take over from the smartphone, itself a successor to the computer.
Read alsoFacebook crazy about augmented reality
This long-term project, which should not be completed for a decade, mobilizes 10,000 employees in the United States to which will be added 10,000 other engineers, developers and researchers in Europe.
The dream of the boss of Facebook would be to design augmented reality glasses having the appearance of prescription glasses, which, once put on, would allow to unveil another universe and to see his relatives, colleagues, clients appear near him. , or work on files.
A precedent at Google
The metaverse, a term coined by science fiction author Neal Stephenson, would open up a new field for hobbies or work.
It would be a kind of palpable Internet, where it would also be possible to acquire unique virtual goods (NFT) like clothes and shoes for the avatar of the Internet user ...
Read also "Metaverse", the dizzying future of the internet
Facebook would therefore like to make an impression by adapting a new name for its group which would demonstrate its new ambitions.
Some people mention "Horizon", the name of the virtual reality experiences that the American group carries out through its subsidiary Oculus: virtual meeting rooms Horizon Workrooms, and a long-announced virtual world in VR project.
This new name could also be a way for the group to distance itself from the “Facebook” brand, which has been synonymous with scandals in recent years, and to protect its new activities.
This decision, if it is true, is reminiscent of that taken in 2015 by Google.
The other giant of Silicon Valley had adopted the name "Alphabet" for its parent company, in order to mark the difference between its various activities.
But in the public's mind, Google has remained Google ...
