Mark Zuckerberg surprised the world in October when he announced his company had changed its name to Meta.
The announcement came as the Facebook founder and CEO delivered a presentation showcasing Facebook’s work on virtual reality technologies and the Metaverse – a concept which some believe could become the next version of the internet.
It’s a move that echoes what Google did when it changed the name of its parent company to Alphabet in 2015 – an alteration that represented its shift beyond simply being a search engine.
Mark Zuckerberg said he had chosen it as in Greek it means ‘beyond’.
“For me, it symbolises that there’s always more to build; there’s always a next chapter to the story,” he explained.
“Beyond the constraints of screens, beyond the limits of distance and physics and towards a future where everyone can be present with each other, create new opportunities and experience new things.”
A metaverse is an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment.
This world already exists today through Meta-owned brand Oculus, which will itself be re-branded to Meta Quest in 2022, as well as Meta’s collaboration with glasses manufacturer Ray-Ban that allows users to see social media notifications via their glasses or sunglasses.
In his presentation, Mark Zuckerberg showed how his new metaverse concept ‘Horizon’ could apply to our future lives.
For example, he demonstrated how it could be used to hold realistic work meetings and help with education.
