Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Has Not Chosen a New Name For Site Amid Rebranding Plans

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 21 October 2021, 12:10 pm

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has not settled on a new name for the social media company even though they are planning to rebrand.

Facebook Has No New Name Yet

According to Platformer, the tech giant wants to rebrand in the next few days but did not share any other information.

Casey Newton, a journalist that reported about Facebook's plan to rebrand, said that two sources revealed the company has been working on its plan for two months now.

A potential announcement could come next week, and it will coincide with Facebook's monthly earnings call.

On Oct. 19, The Verge reported that Facebook was planning to change its name as part of its plan to become a metaverse company. The main app of the social media platform will retain its name, but the company will be rebranded.

Also Read: Facebook Planning To Put Its Name On WhatsApp, Instagram

Metaverse is a science-fiction term, and it refers to a future vision of the internet where users access the web via virtual reality and augmented reality headsets instead of the current devices like smartphones and laptops.

Zuckerberg stated in July that he wanted Facebook to be a metaverse company. Facebook announced on Oct. 18 that it plans to hire more than 10,000 people in Europe over the next five years to begin its goal to become a metaverse company.

One unnamed source told Newton that Facebook is trying not to use the word "meta" in its new rebranded name, and a second unnamed source said that the name might not be connected to metaverse at all.

Some sources revealed that the rebrand could happen on Oct. 28, when Facebook holds its Oculus Connect event. In response to the report, a spokesperson from Facebook told Insider that they do not comment on rumor or speculation alone.

Facebook's Motivation Behind Rebranding

The rebrand of Facebook would likely position the app as one of the many products under a parent company that oversees groups like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus.

A company rebrand could also serve to separate further the work that Zuckerberg is focused on from the scrutiny Facebook is getting for the way it operates today.

Frances Haugen, a former employee of Facebook and now a whistleblower, recently leaked a couple of internal documents to The Wall Street Journal and testified about them before the US Congress.

Also, antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe are trying to break Facebook, and public trust in how the social media company works is failing.

Facebook is not the first famous tech company to change its name as it expanded its services.

In 2015, Google rebranded under a holding company called Alphabet, revealing that they are not just a search engine anymore but a conglomerate with companies making autonomous vehicles and health technology.

Snapchat also rebranded in 2016 and is now called Snap Inc. The company also began calling itself a camera company and debuted the Spectacles camera glasses.

Facebook's new name could have something to do with Horizon, the name of the VR version of the company that it has been working on for a few years now.