It’s been more than a week since Facebook announced it is changing its name to Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) to better captures its ambitions that go beyond being a social media platform. The company is investing heavily in what’s known as the metaverse, a digital world in which people use various devices to engage with each other in a 3D environment. For the occasion, CNBC’s Jim Cramer suggested a new acronym MAMAA to replace FAANG to include Meta, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Although not formally part of the old FAANG acronym that included Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Microsoft passed Apple to become the world’s most valuable company more than a week ago, with many on Wall Street would often mentioning it in the same breath as its fellow tech titans. Moreover, FAANG was coined by Cramer nearly decade ago, first as FANG before Apple was joined the crew in 2017. Meta’s market cap has now exceeded $900 billion, Amazon is valued at $1.7 trillion, Alphabet stands at $1.97 trillion, whereas Apple and Microsoft both exceeded $2.4 trillion in value.
Rebranding to combat ‘brand tax’
What Zuckerberg is trying to do is get rid of “brand tax” that dates as far back as the 2016 presidential election, when Facebook was labelled as a haven of hateful content and misinformation, which negatively impacted its apps. Facebook’s other services have struggled to distance themselves from the constant embarrassment that’s plagued their parent company over the past half-decade. According to CNBC, when Facebook announced it will be adding “Facebook” at the end of its apps’ names, Instagram was hit particularly hard as the photo app is used mostly by teens and young adults who don’t think well of Facebook. But Zuckerberg still insists that Facebook had turned Instagram into a screaming success since acquiring it for $1 billion in 2012.
The scepticism
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt looks forward to the innovation of a virtual world where people can socialize, work and play, he isn’t sure whether Facebook will be the one who builds it as Google, Microsoft and Apple are also working on that vision that could take a decade or more to come to realization.
Everyone will probably continue saying Facebook, just like we first think of Google than Alphabet. But despite the powerful promise of the metaverse, many serious issues can arise if people forgo real life for the virtual world. Not to mention that regulators are in for an even stronger headache. Facebook is being hit particularly hard these days since its former employee leaked documents that reveal the company is aware of the harm it is making but chooses to ignore or not resolve them to protect its profitability. Regulators still don’t have the formulation to control Big Tech and they probably didn’t even begin discussing a digital universe.
An AI breakthrough
AI researchers have neglected touch because these sensors have been too expensive or too unreliable data-wise. But on November 1
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, Meta’s AI researchers and Carnegie Mellon scientists, created a deformable plastic “skin” technology known as ReSkin. Less than 3 mm thick, this relatively cheap material can detect forces down to 0.1 newtons from objects that are less than 1 mm in size. This material contains particles that produce a magnetic field so when it comes into contact with another surface, the sensor records the change of the magnetic field and feeds the data to an AI software which attempts to understand the touch. According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, this discovery has brought the world one step closer to realistic interactions in the metaverse. More details will be known later this month when the workings get published in an academic journal.
The promise of innovation
The metaverse is either the next evolution or the latest corporate buzzword of an innovation that may not even become reality. Either way, tech companies are increasingly boosting the concept of a virtual world where one can live, work and play inside. Even Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) got on board, filing as many as seven patents to be within the dress code.
As always, only time will tell if the metaverse will come to life.
Changing the name does not guarantee the elimination of brand tax but if anything, Zuckerberg has changed his approach while focusing on making all of the company’s services appealing to young adults. He remains defiant on whistleblower’s accusations, saying that data has been selectively portrayed to show the detrimental effect of Instagram on mental health of teens but he did acknowledge that the shift will take years to be executed. Moving away from the Facebook brand is the first big step as Meta’s stock ticker will change to MVRS on December 1
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