Facebook may not be Facebook for too much longer, according to a report from The Verge. The social network has a name change incoming, according to the website, citing a source familiar with the company’s plans.

Facebook will, according to “…a source with direct knowledge of the matter,” be changing its name as soon as next week. The name change will supposedly turn up on 28 October at the company’s annual Connect conference and will have a focus on the company’s so-called metaverse aims.

What’s in a name, Facebook?

This doesn’t mean that the social network’s initial platform will rebrand, of course. It sounds like the company’s upcoming name change will be to the parent company, much like Google’s introduction of Alphabet as an overarching company where the iconic search engine was just an aspect instead of the whole thing.

Zuckerberg’s company is certainly large enough and diverse enough to need the differentiation. It’s not just the blue-coloured News Feed anymore; there’s Instagram, Oculus, WhatsApp, Portal hardware, various research divisions (including AR), and other projects to account for. And then there’s that whole metaverse thing the Zuckster keeps punting. The company is much more than just pictures of your holidays and family arguments conducted in public, these days.

There’s no confirmation as to what name Facebook will eventually opt for. It’s supposedly a closely guarded secret within the company, but there’s speculation that it will somehow be related to the word Horizon, which would connect it to the Horizon Workrooms project the company recently revealed. We should know more next week, unless the timetable is moved up.

Source: The Verge