Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the global social media company will change its name to 'Meta', following the company's vision of a future where people wear virtual and augmented reality glasses and interact in all-new ways.

"We're a company that focuses on connecting people. While most other tech companies focus on how people interact with technology, we focus on building technology so people can interact with each other," Zuckerberg said, stressing that the name change is about their vision and principles of connecting people.

The company made it clear that the website and app that we all know today as Facebook will not change — emphasising that it will still be and will always be called Facebook.

The move is similar to how Google rebranded its parent company name to "Alphabet" in 2015, where the company changed its name but their website name remained unchanged — a successful move as we still know and use Google today as our search engine of choice.

Meta also confirmed that Instagram and WhatsApp, two online platforms that the company also owns, will not be changing their names.

In fact, Meta said that another reason behind the company name change is that they are veering away from being seen as ‘Facebook’ because the company owns other businesses.

It can be noted that the company owns and runs Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and their VR hardware Oculus.

However, the timing of the name change is problematic as Facebook has recently been under heavy scrutiny about its size and whistle-blower reports, claiming that the social media giant puts profits before the safety of its users.

A rebranding could be part of an effort to overhaul Facebook's reputation following the series of PR nightmares, including misinformation on its platforms and content moderation failures.

Mr Zuckerberg addressed these concerns in his announcement.
"With all the scrutiny and public debate, some of you might be wondering why we're doing this right now," he said.

"The answer is that I believe that we're put on this earth to create."

"I believe that technology can make our lives better and I believe the future won't be built on its own."

"I know that some people will say this isn't a time to focus on the future."

"I want to acknowledge that there are important issues to work on in the present. There always will be."

"So for many people, I'm just not sure there ever will be a good time to focus on the future. But I also know that there are a lot of you who feel the same way I do."

"We live for what we're building, and while we make mistakes, we'll keep learning and building and moving forward."

Meta's managing director for Australia, Will Easton, said that the rebranding was the next logical step for the company.

"The metaverse is the next evolution in online social technology and will help us connect in ways not yet possible today," Mr Easton said.

"While nothing beats being together in person, recent months have highlighted how, when that's not possible or practical, the digital world can still help us feel connected."

"The metaverse will help us get closer to feeling that in-person presence through sharing a space rather than a screen."

"Facebook isn't going to build, own or run the metaverse on its own, we will be collaborating at every stage with policymakers, experts and industry partners."

"There are already a wealth of Australian companies and creators working in this space, including fashion designers, gaming and VR experience creators, academics and marketers experimenting with new immersive formats."

"Australia has an opportunity to be on the forefront of this technology even at this early stage of its development."