Facebook Announces New Name During Virtual Reality Conference

Facebook is changing its name. During the company's eighth annual Connect event, Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook will now be known as Meta, reflecting the company's new focus on building a metaverse of connected apps and virtual experiences.

"Today, we are seen as a social media company, but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started," Zuckerberg said during the augmented and virtual reality conference.

"We believe the metaverse will be the successor to the mobile internet," Zuckerberg said.

The event included a series of animated contempt videos showcasing Meta's vision for the future. For example, in one video, coworkers were seen sitting around virtual meeting tables, while another envisioned friends playing a fully immersive virtual reality game together. Zuckerberg also said that the company is working on creating a virtual marketplace where people can buy and sell virtual goods.

"The next platform will be even more immersive — an embodied internet where you're in the experience, not just looking at it. We call this the metaverse, and it will touch every product we build," Zuckerberg wrote in a public letter. "The defining quality of the metaverse will be a feeling of presence — like you are right there with another person or in another place. Feeling truly present with another person is the ultimate dream of social technology. That is why we are focused on building this."