Meta is trying hard to rebrand. But renaming won’t improve your own reputation.
Facebook has had an eventful few months. After the allegations by whistleblower Frances Haugen, the company underwent an image change and was called Meta from then on. The focus is therefore on the Metaverse, but the other services such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram will of course continue to run. Haugen not only criticized Facebook, Instagram and internal processes, the Facebook News Feed in particular also received some criticism. Facebook is reacting again with a rebranding: the news feed is simply becoming the feed. Facebook spread the news in a tweet.
Feed without news: focus on content from friends?
The heart of the platform has been News Feed for 15 years, but back then the platform didn’t have nearly as many functions as it does now. There is now, for example, a news tab that users could quickly confuse with the news feed because of its name. in one Memo to employees Zuckerberg explains that the addition “News” would have confused users in that they would have expected news stories and no private posts from friends and acquaintances there. It’s one of Meta’s big priorities. After the News Feed was frequently criticized for creating harder fronts between different groups by spreading political content and recently also attracted negative attention with fake news about the corona virus, Meta launched several campaigns to get rid of the bad reputation. The goal is to show users more content from friends and acquaintances again. The renaming, or the deletion of the “News” from the News Feed, goes in the same direction.
Meta makeover
“Feed” isn’t the only terminology changing meta. So far, the employees have continued to be called Facebookers – even if the company name has been changed. But now Mark Zuckerberg had news to announce here as well. Facebookers are no longer Facebookers – they can now call themselves Metamates.
Over the years, changes are implemented in every company and products are renamed. In Meta’s case, these efforts come at a time when the company is under heavy scrutiny. Presumably, with the renaming, one wants to leave the old reputation behind and look to the future. That the endeavor will succeed is rather questionable.
