Meta Becomes Facebook, Expanding Beyond Social Media

Meta is the new name of Facebook Inc. – marking its first major rebranding. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the name change at the Facebook Connect conference, which reflects Facebook’s growing ambitions beyond social media.

A news release accompanied the announcement, laying out the company’s vision for creating a “metaverse” that links social interactions online with physical experiences.

A conference held annually by Facebook that brings together content creators, marketers, and virtual reality developers. Blockchain technology has enabled the concept of the metaverse to take off, and this year’s event will heavily focus on it.

The company revealed it will continue to build applications with the same names – Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

It appears that Facebook has been planning the shift to Meta since at least the summer when it announced the formation of a new team to build its metaverse.

According to the company’s most recent earnings call, it intends to take its virtual reality hardware business, Facebook Reality Labs, and separate it into its own business segment in the fourth quarter.

Crypto assets have become a major boon to these ecosystems, despite the fact that the phrase “metaverse” has become a catch-all phrase used by companies trying to bridge the gap between virtual and physical worlds.

In the metaverse, users can buy and sell virtual lands, avatars, and even buildings. Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and Enjin Coin, to name just a few, are all attempting to promote the transition to the metaverse.

Vishal Shah, Facebook’s head of metaverse products, said that the company’s goal is to “provide as many creators with a way to build a business in the metaverse as possible.” He went on to explain:

“Metaverse creators will come in many forms. We need makers who make digital objects, providers of services and experiences, and those who are creating entire worlds like today’s game developers.”

Shah said that digital and physical products, as well as experiences and services, will be available for trading in the metaverse. Their products will be promoted and new audiences will be reached using the social network’s ad services.

He specifically mentioned non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, when he described “new types of ownership models.” This new platform means that users will be able to sell digital educational objects, display them in their digital spaces, and resell them securely.

During the third quarter alone, NFT sales exceeded $10.7 billion. During the first half of the year, sales totaled $2.5 billion.