Will Facebook’s rebrand save its dying reputation? – Kate

Facebook is rebranding to Meta.

This isn’t the first rebrand.
Back in 2019 Facebook changed its name to FACEBOOK. Creative.
All big and bold letters, with extra curvature around the edges and a colour refresh to make
it look more “empathetic.” Hmm.
Nothing says empathy like big shouty letters and a shade of blue…

Facebook’s reputation has gone downhill – like a really steep hill, or a cliff.
With whistle-blowers, (lack of) privacy compliance, harmful algorithms, just to name a few.
People are ending their relationships with the social media platform and young audiences aren’t even signing up.

The look of disgust on my 14-year-old sister’s face spoke for itself when I asked her if she used Facebook…
Apparently, it is ‘cheugy’.
For those who don’t know (like me, pre-google search) – ‘cheugy’ is a slang adjective mocking someone or something as “uncool”.
If you want to stay down with the kids, TikTok and Snapchat are the places to be.

A big part Facebook’s rebrand, Meta is to bring the “metaverse” to life.
The metaverse is a virtual world you can plug yourself into and do almost anything…without having to leave the house.
Mr Zuckerberg said the metaverse will be a place where people interact, work and create. He expects us all to be using it in the next decades. Scary.
Do we really need another world? There’s enough issues in this one. Much like an annoying ex-boyfriend, ignoring them doesn’t mean they’ll go away.
We already spend so much of our time online. Work, online shopping, streaming, social media.
Will we become a world of hermit crabs?

It’s the next massive opportunity for brands to engage consumers in new ways.
VR is becoming increasingly popular and brands have experienced a 94% conversion rate by introducing VR into the buying process.
Can it re-engage the currently disengaged Gen Z audience? Possibly.
The popularity and use of TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram tell us that people are choosing a ‘story telling’ experience, rather than billboard style newsfeed.
The metaverse will provide an entire phantasmic world-sized story for people to immerse themselves in.

Can it help to save Facebook’s reputation? Maybe.
You can pretty a pig, but it doesn’t take away the fact that it is still a pig.

Of course, there’s always the opportunity to change Meta to META at the onset of another crisis.