A report stated that Facebook plans to rename the company next week to completely break with the past. According to the US technology news website Verge, Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to discuss the name change at a company event next week, but it may be announced sooner. Facebook said in a statement that it “does not comment on rumors or speculation.”

According to the plan, Facebook will change the name of its holding company, but will not change the name of its social media platform with the same name, which is internally known as the “big blue application.” In addition to its founding website, the company also owns Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus. The Verge reported that the new name of the holding company may be related to Horizon, a term used in at least two virtual reality products the company is developing.

Zuckerberg founded his company TheFacebook 17 years ago. According to reports, since the Cambridge Analytica scandal three years ago, Facebook is considering rebranding in the context of its worst public relations crisis. Former employee Frances Haugen (Frances Haugen) leaked tens of thousands of documents and testified to the U.S. Senator, saying that Facebook puts “astronomical profits in front of people”. According to the Verge report, VR is the driving factor for the company’s name change because the company focuses on building a “meta universe” as the cornerstone of its new growth strategy.

The Verge reported that the rebranding announcement may be announced on the company’s annual product conference Connect on October 28, when more details about the meta festival will be announced. Oculus products will become a key product in the metaverse. This is a loosely defined concept that involves people leading their social and professional lives and interacting with others through VR headsets and augmented reality, where the digital layer is placed above real life, such as In the popular Pokémon Go game.

Facebook is developing a social virtual reality platform called Horizon Worlds and a virtual reality conference service called Horizon Workrooms. Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Facebook, said that he now uses virtual desktops and whiteboards to participate in Monday morning meetings in Metaverse. Facebook said that its products have less than 2.8 billion daily users, but Zuckerberg is known for his focus on growth because of concerns that Facebook may be replaced by digital upstarts at any time.

Facebook’s share price has performed strongly this year, up 25% since January, which brings the company’s valuation to close to US$1 trillion (£730 billion)-the vast majority of the company’s funding comes from advertisers targeting its user base . However, the company’s stock price has fallen below its September peak.

News Source : Support The Guardian