Facebook is now Meta Thought Catalog/Unsplash
Last week, we reported how Facebook was planning to rebrand itself in an effort to signal a shift from its social media focus to building the metaverse.
At its annual hardware event, the company announced that it was changing its name to Meta. Within moments, the internet was being populated with jokes and memes about the company's decision.
Among the earliest to jump at the opportunity was another social media platform, Twitter. Taking a swing at all the ethical issues that have ailed Facebook over the years, Twitter pointed to its own Machine Learning, Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability (META) team that, according to them, consists of some of Big Tech's harshest critics.
the only #META we acknowledge is this:https://t.co/HalSMZt8L5
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 28, 2021
CNN correspondent, Donie O'Sullivan phrased it better with this tweet.
#BREAK Facebook's new company name is Meta
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) October 28, 2021
It still has all the same problems it had this morning. pic.twitter.com/3AROaibCeU
Another Twitter user said,
The problem is not what Facebook is called.
— Mark Cheesman 🇬🇧🏴 🇪🇺 🏴☠️ (@stilton54) October 28, 2021
The problem is what Facebook/Meta is.
New York Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez minced no words.
Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!” https://t.co/jzOcCFaWkJ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 28, 2021
It was also last week when we reported that Meta, then Facebook, was planning to hire 10,000 engineers to build the metaverse. So, the name change also raised questions about who was consulted before this decision was taken. The internet came up with such excellent answers as the following:
— Phil™ (@Henkepotamus) October 28, 2021
As well as:
The team behind the Facebook's name change to Meta pic.twitter.com/AWY2lrczsg
— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) October 28, 2021
Highlighting the lack of creativity in this rebranding was this tweet.
Facebook: “Building the metaverse is going to take a level of creativity we’ve never seen before”
— Inglourious Capital (@inglouriouscap) October 28, 2021
Also Facebook: “Our new name is Meta”
An alternate theory about why the company picked 'Meta' for its new name came from this Twitter user.
Q: Why did Facebook pick 'Meta'?
— maxgoff (@maxgoff) October 28, 2021
A: 'Meh' was taken
New York Times author and Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill Tressie McMillan Cottom compared the name change to fictional names used in movies.
Honest to god thought this was satire. Honest to god. This is the kind of pseudonym they give tech companies in Hallmark movies because it’s so ridiculously fake. https://t.co/AHgl3P04Bv
— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) October 28, 2021
Sharp in their criticism, internet users were also keen to share suggestions on what the company could be rebranded as instead.
"Suckerbook" would be quite appropriate as well.....
— CÒѧËŔVÅŤÏ§M SŮX (@McDee85) October 28, 2021
Another suggestion was more apt.
😅Meta?
— Julie (@TruBluBrewCru) October 28, 2021
It should just go all the way and call it Narcissism.
While another Twitter user suggested the logo design below.
Facebook really should have stuck with their original design for the meta logo: pic.twitter.com/JyiWKNXxPo
— Librarianshipwreck (@libshipwreck) October 28, 2021
Editor Molly Jong-Fast of the Daily Beast also criticized Facebook's history alongside its current desire to build the metaverse.
They’ve ruined the real world now let them ruin the meta world https://t.co/AePZywxzfZ
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) October 28, 2021
Comments about Zuckerberg in pop culture, however, would be incomplete without references to the movie The Social Network.
this all happened because zuckerberg never meta girl until college
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) October 28, 2021
"Drop the 'Facebook.' Just Meta, it's cleaner." pic.twitter.com/tQWLvOWrBk
— The Shadow Jedi (@Captain63857795) October 28, 2021