Everyone is mad at Facebook, from Wall Street to Main Street and Capitol Hill. Since a leaked set of internal documents revealed the company's struggles to prevent real harm, including political unrest and teen suicides, Facebook has come under fire. Everybody has something to say about Facebook. And almost none of it are good. Mark Zuckerberg wants you to discuss something else.
While we are often referred to as a social media company today, our core business is building technology to connect people. Zuckerberg spoke at the company's Connect conference Thursday morning where he revealed a number of new products and plans for the metaverse. We need a new brand that encompasses everything we do and reflects who we are and what we want to build.
Facebook is one the most famous brands in the world. That used to suit Zuckerberg perfectly. He added the Facebook brand to his other products in 2019, including WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus. This was to remind users that Facebook is more than just Facebook.
For a few reasons, companies tend to change their names. Sometimes, a name change is a sign of new business ambitions. For example, Apple stopped calling itself Apple Computers when it released the iPhone. Sometimes it is a sign of corporate restructuring. For example, Google changed its name to Alphabet. Larry Page, not Google, became CEO of Alphabet. This clarified his leadership beyond search. Sometimes, a company wants to distance itself form a bad brand. This was the case when Philip Morris, a cigarette manufacturer, changed its name to Altria in 2001.
Meta, which Facebook rechristens as, has elements from all three. The company wants to be a metaverse company and not just a producer of social media products. Zuckerberg would prefer to be involved in these new endeavors than overseeing Facebook's app. The company is also looking for a way to get out of the years of people dumping on Facebook. A name that has become synonymous with mistrust, skepticism, conspiracy theories, and genocide.
If the company is to overcome years of Facebook backlash, however, it must do more than just give itself a new name. Anaezi Modu is the CEO and founder of Rebrand. Rebrand advises companies on branding transformations. People will still see Meta as Facebook if it looks and sounds the same as Facebook.
