Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand.
The company said it would better “encompass” what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality.
The change does not apply to its individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, only the parent company that owns them.
The move follows a series of negative stories about Facebook, based on documents leaked by an ex-employee.
Frances Haugen has accused the company of putting “profits over safety”.
In 2015, Google restructured its company calling its parent firm Alphabet, however, the name has not caught on.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Facebook,, announced the name change in a statement issued on Thursday.
According to him, the change of name will reflect the company’s efforts on rebranding its future operations.
“To reflect who we are and the future we hope to build, I’m proud to share that our company is now Meta,” Zuckerberg said.
“Our mission remains the same — it’s still about bringing people together. Our apps and their brands aren’t changing either. We’re still the company that designs technology around people.
“But all of our products, including our apps, now share a new vision: to help bring the metaverse to life. And now we have a name that reflects the breadth of what we do.
“From now on, we will be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first. That means that over time you won’t need a Facebook account to use our other services. As our new brand starts showing up in our products, I hope people around the world come to know the Meta brand and the future we stand for.”
Facebook’s rebrand follows as the social media giant continues to work towards building its futuristic “metaverse”, a virtual-reality space in which users interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.
The company has invested heavily in virtual/augmented reality, developing hardware like its Oculus VR headsets, working on AR glasses and wristband technologies, and buying a bevy of VR gaming studios, including BigBox VR.
In his statement, Zuckerberg added: “When I started Facebook, we mostly typed text on websites. When we got phones with cameras, the internet became more visual and mobile.
“As connections got faster, the video became a richer way to share experiences. We’ve gone from desktop to web to mobile; from text to photos to video. But this isn’t the end of the line.
