Five thoughts we had after hearing the Facebook rebrand news
If you haven't heard already, Facebook announced on the weekend that it will be changing its name to ‘Meta’ as a part of a major rebrand.
I love a rebrand as much as the next Marketing and PR professional, but this one got me thinking, here are my thoughts:
1. Am I surprised? Not really.
Facebook has spent plenty of time in the press recently, and mainly for all of the wrong reasons. From mass data collection and privacy invasion to bad 'Mark' memes and outages, the brand has suffered some serious damage.
2. What does the rebrand actually look like?
I am relieved to hear that our favourite social media apps will be relatively unaffected by the rebrand. The Facebook logo has made an appearance on our phones and devices for over 15 years and I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit uneasy at the thought of having to accept a new brand.
3. Is anyone else terrified by the concept of a ‘Metaverse’? What does that even mean?
The Matrix is one of my all-time favourite movies, but if anyone’s handing me the red pill, I feel super uncomfortable with that person being Mark Zuckerberg. At the same time, we know that the digital world will always throw something new at us, and it’s clear that this is the next giant leap for the digital world.
4. Is it time to bring back VR?
I’ll be the first to put my hand up to admit that I’m not the world's biggest fan of VR. I still have the free headset that came with a new phone in my ‘can’t throw it out, but can’t be bothered to use it’ cupboard. But with a clear trajectory towards a more virtual world, is it time to accept a more virtual life? I mean, I could probably get on board with some kind of virtual reality shopping experience.
5. Is a rebrand powerful enough to save Facebook?
We know firsthand how powerful rebrands can be, but can it save Facebook’s reputation after all it’s been through? I don’t know that I would choose Mark Zuckerberg to be the face of a new rebrand either.
So while we dust off our VR headsets and watch how this rebrand will unfold, we would love to hear what you think about the future of Facebook and the metaverse.
