Last week, Facebook announced that it's changing its name to Meta, with the rebranding of the company being indicative of its expansion into new areas, embracing Mark Zuckerberg's vision of the 'metaverse.'
While the change in company name does not mean that the Facebook app or website are getting a new name, the branding will still be changing, with the social networking platform now a product of the umbrella company Meta.
The same thing is happening to other products and services that previously came from the Facebook stables. This means that the likes of Instagram and WhatsApp will no longer be labelled 'Instagram from Facebook' and 'WhatsApp from Facebook'.
Instead – and predictably – they will become Instagram from Meta and WhatsApp from Meta. Of course, this is a rebanding that will not happen overnight, but – as noted by WABetaInfo – it's something that can already be seen in the beta version of the WhatsApp apps for iOS and Android. In both cases, the apps are now showing WhatsApp from Meta, completed with the new Meta logo.
New branding, new features
While the change of name is important at a corporate level, for users it's the features that matter. And thankfully, new features keep being added to the beta versions of WhatsApp, gradually making their way to the release version that most people are using.
The latest addition to the app is the arrival of the option to rate messages from businesses. This is important feedback for companies that make use of WhatsApp as a means of communicating with customers, giving them a way to determine how interactions are received by users. It's a simple means of gaining customer feedback to help improve service, and it's present in the latest betas for iOS and Android. It's not clear quite when there will be a wider rollout.
Analysis: An inevitable – and potentially confusing – change
It's easy to forget that most people do not follow technology news. While readers of TechRadar will be up to speed with Facebook's rebranding as Meta, it's not something that the vast majority of people will be aware of – after all, it ultimately has very little impact on users.
But with a new name, it is important for Meta that corporate branding runs across its product line, so it is not surprising that this is now happening.
However, it's likely to cause confusion for some people who are unaware of what Meta is, and it's also likely that Meta will undertake a promotional campaign to advertise the name change to people so as to minimize confusion and to avoid the problem of people thinking that WhatsApp from Meta is not an official app.
- Via: WABetaInfo
