Facebook started operations in 2004 as a technology and social networking brand, whose main source of income is through the sale of ads to its marketers. The brand name is a very important asset for a business and, in the case of Facebook Inc., is the most valuable of the company he runs Mark Zuckerberg.
One of the strategies of the American businessman was to open the platform to other developers, when he realized that the fundamental thing in his business was not to create the best applications, but to have the largest and best connected network, regardless of who invented them.
After consolidating the status of Facebook As one of the world’s largest social brands, it began to buy and consolidate other networks. In April 2012, he acquired Instagram for $1 billion. Currently, this app has 1.22 billion monthly users. Then he bought WhatsApp, which has 2 billion active people per month. Subsequently, it turned Facebook’s internal chat function into its own application, Messenger, which today exceeds 1.3 billion users.
taking control of three of the largest social networks in the world, there is no concern that competitor apps will take the lead, simply an offer to buy is made. In case the competitor refuses, a ‘non sancta’ maneuver is applied, common in the technology market: copy and adapt.
On October 28, it was confirmed that the technological conglomerate Facebook became be called Meta, change that will not modify the names of your different social networks: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg expects the ‘metaverse’ to reach 1 billion people within a decade. It will be a place where people can interact, work and create products and content, in what he believes will be a new ecosystem that creates millions of jobs, not just for creators, but for everyone. The change occurs when the company suffers its greatest reputational crisis and existential in 17 years.
Skeptics say the new name appears to be an attempt to deflect attention from accusations of monopoly in the social media market and the ‘Facebook Papers’, a leaked document that has revealed ways in which the company ignored internal warnings about damage that his social network caused on October 4, when Facebook, Instagram and the WhatsApp messaging application stopped working worldwide. The blackout affected millions of users who were offline for six hours.
According to Fortune estimates, the social media giant, the world’s second largest digital advertising platform, recorded a plost revenue of approximately $100 million. However, would these refractory situations somehow justify the decision to change the name of the powerful brand?
RICARDO GAITAN
Branding Consultant.
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