Facebook Wants to Rebrand the Company Image. By Changing Its Name?

Even as whistleblowers continue to reveal misgivings at Facebook, the social media company is keen to enter the next phase of its growth and rebrand the company image to reflect its scale and its vision. After the rebranding, the blue Facebook app will become one of the many products that the company owns, The Verge reported. 

Although popularly known for owning digital media offerings like Instagram and WhatsApp, Mark Zuckerberg-owned Facebook has also invested heavily in augmented reality (AR) through its product Oculus and also offers formal, online communication and collaboration spaces to organizations through its offering, Workplace. Additionally, the company also offers video calling devices under its Portal brand and a blockchain-based international money transfer app called Novi.

Last month, we reported how Facebook had collaborated with Ray-Ban to create Wayfarers that can take pictures and shoot short videos in the blink of an eye. Even then, the social media company had ensured that the product does not carry the Facebook branding and according to The Verge, it is the 'social media company' tag that it wants to get rid of. 

Amidst controversies and pressures from regulators, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been talking about building the metaverse - a digital environment where people can work, relax, communicate with the help of devices and technologies like AR and VR. While he does not believe that his company alone could build the metaverse, Facebook did recently declare that it will hire 10,000 engineers to shape up this vision. It is becoming abundantly clear, that the company wants to be known as the one that 'built the metaverse' rather than just social media tools, that did significant harm. 

Rebranding of the company is not new in the tech world. While Snapchat shortened itself to Snap in 2016, a year earlier, Google reorganized itself under the brand 'Alphabet' to drop the tag of a 'search engine company' and focus on ambitious projects outside the digital realm as well. Facebook's attempt looks similar to Google's approach and more details are likely to emerge in about a week, as the company converges for its annual Connect Conference on October 28th. However, the unveiling could come earlier as well, reports The Verge. We have reached out to Facebook for further details and will update the story when we receive a comment. 

We can only hope that while chalking out plans to build the metaverse, Zuckerberg does ensure that the ills of the current products are left behind. The least he could do is assign someone responsible to clear up the mess his acquisitions have created.