Facebook: This Thursday (28), Facebook finally announced the new name of its parent company: “Meta”. According to CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, the inspiration for the name comes from the homonymous Greek word, meaning “beyond” — referencing the company’s new intentions for its products focused on the “metaverse,” or a virtual world on the internet. Without delay, the Social Networks Giant has already changed its visual identity, both at its headquarters and in online media.
The company’s new logo is marked by the use of a modern blue “M” letter, styled almost in a pretzel shape, as the Verge website denotes. The visual identity replaces the famous “like” symbol, popularly known as “joinha”, which once represented Facebook’s vision for interaction between users on social networks.
This transition could be seen at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park (California, USA), just minutes after Facebook’s official announcement. The famous sign with the spelling “1 Hacker Way”, accompanied by the retired “joinha”, received the new visual identity and soon attracted curious eyes from passersby.
Despite the visual change, Facebook seems to want to recall some past lessons. The new logo plaque still retains the old Sun Microsystems brand on its reverse, the former tenant of the company’s current headquarters. As early as 2014, the Times website commented on the decision: “The old sign stands as a reminder of what happens when you get distracted in the game” — something that Zuckerberg may have adopted.
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In addition to the changes in headquarters, Facebook also adopted the new look on its social networks and even its website. Interestingly, although the company’s digital presence is stronger and more refreshed than ever, its Instagram profile could not be simplified into “@meta”, as it belongs to another user. For this reason, it was necessary to adopt the “@wearemeta”, or “we are Meta”, in free translation into Portuguese.
Aiming at the new goals, Zuckerberg commented on what the change means to him: “It symbolizes that there’s always more to build and there’s always a next chapter to history,” he explains optimistically, despite the turbulent time for the company.