On both Android and iOS devices, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and other Facebook apps have begun to display the company’s new ‘Meta’ branding. The announcement comes just a week after Facebook announced that it is renaming its company Meta.
The renaming is intended to go beyond traditional social media and better reflect the company’s ongoing investment in an immersive experience known as the’metaverse.’ Along with Facebook, Microsoft and other technology companies are developing their own metaverse-focused offerings. The Menlo Park, California-based company, on the other hand, wants to be the first to rebrand.
The Meta logo has started to emerge on the splash screens of the latest versions of WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook apps. It was first detected on current WhatsApp beta versions for Android and iOS devices last week. The shift is the outcome of Facebook’s declaration last week that it will adopt the Meta title.
It’s unclear whether the renaming will result in any changes to the Facebook apps.
Facebook began displaying its native logo on WhatsApp and Instagram apps in 2019. This was done to emphasize the company’s ownership of the two platforms.
Will Cathcart, WhatsApp’s CEO, introduced the new branding for the instant messaging service last week. The move, according to the executive, is about recognizing that WhatsApp’s parent firm “is about more than simply Facebook.”
“This new name will make it easier for us to explain that you can share a Facebook Status with your friends (the app), use payments capabilities supplied by Meta (the company), or use a service that has yet to be established,” Cathcart had stated.
After months of creating augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences, Facebook decided to go with the new name.
In a public statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that Meta will be about a metaverse where individuals will be able to engage with each other digitally and in an immersive way through the Internet. He did not, however, elaborate on what we may expect from the company in the near future.
