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Facebook is reportedly planning to change its name

A face-lift could signal the company's ambitions to become more than just a social network.

Facebook is reportedly planning to change its name

Facebook … face-lift … incoming?

Image: Facebook

Facebook is planning a rebrand, including a name change, sometime next week, The Verge reported. According to a source, the company plans to use the rebrand to signal its ambitions to become more than just a social network, positioning Facebook as just one of many products under a larger umbrella.

Many people inside the company, including senior leadership, are reportedly not privy to the details of the new name, but The Verge speculated that the name could have something to do with Horizon, the not-yet-released VR version of Facebook, which the company has been working on for the last few years. In August, the company released Horizon Workrooms in beta.

A rebrand that focuses on Facebook's metaverse plans should come as no surprise. The company has been talking about its intention to build the metaverse since this summer, including Mark Zuckerberg telling investors that building the metaverse will be expensive.

In July, Facebook announced a metaverse product group headed up by Instagram VP Vishal Shah, and most recently, Andrew "Boz" Bosworth was promoted to CTO when Mike "Schrep" Schroepfer left, bringing with him years of VR hardware experience. Under Bosworth's leadership, Facebook refocused its VR hardware play on the Oculus Quest headset, Portal smart display, and smart glasses with Ray-Ban.

"We don't comment on rumor or speculation," a Facebook spokesperson told Protocol.

This article was updated to include a statement from Facebook.

Jane Seidel

Jane Seidel is Protocol's digital strategy director. She was previously a platform producer at The Wall Street Journal, creating mobile content and crafting alert strategy. Prior to that, she worked in audience development at WSJ and on digital editorial at NBC Universal. She lives in Brooklyn.

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