Goodbye, Facebook?
Angela Lang/CNET
Facebook is planning to give itself a new name next week to reflect its focus on the metaverse, The Verge reported Tuesday.
The social media giant’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, plans to discuss Facebook’s rebranding at the company’s annual Connect conference on Oct. 28, but an announcement could come sooner, The Verge reported, citing an unidentified source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Like Google’s creation of its parent Alphabet in 2015, a rebranded Facebook would likely create an umbrella company that oversees the Facebook app, as well as Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus, among others.
The idea of a metaverse — a computer-generated environment where people can interact with each other using AR, VR and other technologies — is something Facebook has been discussing since it acquired virtual reality headset maker Oculus in 2014. Building out the metaverse is of interest to many large tech companies, with developers comparing it to the internet in terms of openness and interoperability.
News of a rebranding news comes a day after the company announced in a blog post that it will be hiring around 10,000 people from within the EU to fill highly skilled roles working on Horizon Worlds, a 3D virtual play space, over the next five years.
Facebook declined to address the report, saying it doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation.