It's to differentiate the parent
company—which does so much more than Facebook and will do even more in the
future—from Facebook the product/platform, according to Zuckerberg. Just as
Google's parent company, Alphabet, changed its name to Alphabet, and Snapchat
changed its name to Snap. Notice that Zuckerberg has attempted this at least
twice in the previous five years, but his board of directors has refused to
accept anything other than distinct logos for the parent and kid firms. I
believe this is genuine.
I also think it’s sincere that Zuckerberg
wants to bet billions of dollars building the metaverse as soon as possible. In
part so his company can get in on the ground floor. And so they can make sure
that everything is free and therefore needs to be paid for with targeted
advertising—which, not coincidentally, means his company’s aggregated personal
data will be more valuable than ever. If that pans out, the old non-metaverse
Facebook program/platform will be a minor footnote in their budget. And if it
doesn’t pan out, well, they’ll probably push him out of his own company, so,
not his problem.
Why right now? My guess is that it’s
because convincing the board to go along with that crazy plan would have been really
difficult when the status quo was obviously working out. But when the future
looks grimmer, radical changes are easier to sell. In addition to the carrot of
how hugely profitable his envisioned future could turn out to be, he’s also got
the stick of how they could lose everything if they just stay the course.
Many
people believe it's merely a cynical strategy to divert attention and
criticism, but if that's the case, it's a rather foolish one. All of the
previous criticism remains identical, and fresh criticism has emerged from
those concerned that Facebook is attempting to take over and wreck the future
metaverse in the same manner that it ruined the internet. Maybe the idea is
that if Facebook goes bankrupt, Meta VR goggles will still sell well because
people will forget they're made by Facebook, but I doubt anyone expects that to
work—and if they did, they'd be spinning everything off into separate companies
rather than restructuring it within the same one.
Also,
you’ve seen Zuckerberg testify, right? He’s not a devious PR master who knows
how to say things the way the public wants to hear them, he’s an arrogant guy
who expects everyone will agree once he tells them how the smart people see it,
and is surprised when they don’t.
