On Thursday, October 28th, 2021, Facebook announced its decision to change its name to Meta. In a video made by the company, Mark Zuckerberg gives insight into the transformation the company will be going through.

Facebook is no stranger to popularity, gaining one million users by 2004 to having over three billion users in 2021. The company has become one of the most used social media platforms of all time; however, Facebook is not immune to controversies and negativity. In 2018, the company faced one of its biggest scandals. The data of millions of Facebook users were sold to political campaigns to help build voter profiles. The data breach of the platform led to Mark Zuckerberg paying a five billion dollar fine, according to Forbes. There have been many other scandals that have attached themselves to Facebook’s name and scarred the company. Many are left wondering if the Facebook name change was an effort to ditch all the negativity that the company garnered. 

Mark Zuckerberg announced, in a video, the reason for the name change. Stating that they would be starting the “Metaverse,” and virtual reality where all can connect with friends and family. “Our mission remains the same, still about bringing people together with our apps and their brands they’re not,” Zukerberg said. The video announced two new projects in the works: Nazare Glasses and Project Cambria. The projects aim to expand the possibilities of technology. Nazare glasses are the new path augmented reality is taking. The glasses allow the user to bring their virtual world into the real one. Project Cambria is a VR headset that will be used to access the Metaverse. “Privacy and safety need to be built into the metaverse from day one,” said Zuckerberg when he touched on the topic of safety and privacy. 

Since this announcement, the company has faced mostly negative reviews from the public. In a YouTube video titled “Facebook is Dead,” YouTuber penguinz0, said, “I’ve always thought that it would be cool to be able to do things in a virtual reality space. Though I don’t know if Facebook is the company to lead the charge and make it the best it can be. Facebook is probably the company I have the least amount of respect for, so it’s not like I’m super happy that it’s them that’s leading this charge.” 

Of the comments in the video, an account by the name of DeathSkull stated, “I have seen a lot of dystopian cyberpunk movies to know that this is a bad idea.” 

“The Metaverse is still a ways off, but parts of it are already here — and even more are on the horizon,” said the tech team of Meta. The company has yet to release any full version of the VR world. None of us know the full extent of what Meta will bring to the table, so all we can do now is sit and wait.