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The report indicates that the name isn’t even known widely within Facebook’s offices, although speculation has swirled that it could be tied to Horizon, the company’s fledgling VR service.
“[The metaverse is] going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg told The Verge earllier this year. “And I think it’s going to be the next big chapter for our company too, really doubling down in this area.”
Of course, the name change wouldn’t necessarily reflect the day-to-day usage of Facebook itself, but would provide a new way to look at the overall umbrella of what Facebook owns. Back in the mid-2010s, Google and Snapchat both made similar moves, changing their holding companies into something that reflects their overall brands.
The Facebook name change would come after years of controversy for the social media service, ranging from questions surrounding the platform’s role in spreading misinformation, to a recent hours-long outage of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” they wrote on Twitter when the outage began. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.” In response to the return of their services, Facebook issued another tweet, writing: “To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we’re sorry. We’ve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us.”
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