Thoughts On Facebook’s New Name

Facebook recently rebranded to Meta.

When Facebook announced its new name change earlier this week, I couldn’t help but think someone on Mark Zuckerberg’s team must be a Mad Men fan.

There’s a famous scene from the show where Jon Hamm’s Don Draper tells a client, “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.” And, considering the negative press surrounding Facebook and the Facebook Files in recent weeks, it seems like the team felt it was time to change that conversation — by changing their corporate name to Meta.

In all fairness, The Verge reported that Zuckerberg “acknowledges that the timing of the rebrand is suspect,” and said that the current news cycle “had nothing to bear on this. Even though I think some people might want to make that connection, I think that’s sort of a ridiculous thing. If anything, I think that this is not the environment that you would want to introduce a new brand in.” I’m inclined to agree with him on that last point.

To me, the change feels a little like putting a hat and one of those glasses and mustache disguises on the brand and hoping for the best, but I’ll do my best to keep my personal opinions about Facebook’s politics out of this article and focus on the pros and cons of the new brand name instead.

Taking away all of the crises Facebook is currently…umm…facing…Facebook’s new name actually ain’t that bad in this brand designer’s humble opinion. It’s short, punchy, and easy to say. It’s grounded in relevant language that people are (relatively) familiar with. And it’s grounded in the overall purpose the brand wants to serve moving forward. That’s a pretty solid trifecta, especially for one simple four-letter name.

Zuckerberg says that he loved studying the classics when he was in school and that “Meta” was inspired by the Greek word for “beyond.” Considering that Facebook wants to evolve beyond social media to become a conglomerate dedicated to creating an online “metaverse” in the years to come, Meta is a natural fit.

You never want to go with a name that’s too long or hard to say. It should roll off the tongue if you want your brand name to make its way into everyday conversations. Shorter names also make things a lot easier from a logo lockup design standpoint.

To that point, if you can find a word or name that people are familiar with and truly own it, that’s a huge win, one that’s increasingly rare as more and more businesses pop up and trademark the best words out there. In recent years, “Meta” has made its way into everyday vernacular, from Ron Artest changing his name to “Meta World Peace” to phrases like “that’s so meta,” that describe something self-referential. Even if many people are still not entirely sure what the word means, it still possesses a decent amount of familiarity and comfort, which is always a plus for a new brand name.

Zuck says the new name was inspired by the Greek word for “Beyond.”

Now, going with a name that people are familiar with isn’t necessarily a must. Plenty of companies have found success with names that are more abstract or even made up. After all, Google became a commonly used verb in addition to becoming one of the most successful search engines and technology companies in the world by tweaking the word “Googol,” which is the term for 10 to the power of 100 in mathematics.

Most brand names fall into one of eight categories:

1. Descriptive — Describes what the business sells or does (Farmer’s Insurance, or Noodles & Co., or Whole Foods, or Facebook)
2. Word Mashup — Combines two or more words/names (GrubHub or Instagram — a combo of the names of the founders)
3. Evocative Metaphor — Evokes a quality or characteristic of your company/product or creates a sense of place that stirs an emotion (Amazon — limitless options, or Jaguar — powerful cat)
4. Founder — Plays off of the name of your founder or founders (Ford Motor Co, or Collins, or Dell Computers)
5. History/Heritage — Plays off of aspects of your history or mythology that relates to your brand (Casper or Allbirds or Nike or EightySeven)
6. Abstract or Wildcard — A made up word that conveys a benefit or feeling, usually building off of an existing word or combination of words (Google — Modified version of Googol, 10 to the 100th Power, or Lyft, or Yahoo!)
7. Acronym — A shorter version of a longer name or message (IBM — short for International Business Machine, or AirBnB — short for Air Mattress Bed & Breakfast, or Adidas — All Day I Dream About Sports, or GM — General Motors)
8. Purpose — The reason why you do what you do (Apple — Exists to inspire. Inspiration that came with Isaac Newton discovering gravity when the Apple fell on his head.)

Meta seems like a cross between Purpose and Evocative Metaphor. I love that it speaks to the future mission of the company (to create the world’s first online metaverse), even if I’m not super keen on what that future is. In doing so, they’re setting themselves on a course to own an entire category, which is a pretty great aspiration for a company to have.

My primary objection to the name change has nothing to do with the name itself. It’s the timing. Yes, Mark, it does appear suspect. And considering the havoc that social media has wreaked on the world over the last few years, it seems as though the brand is more concerned with trying to get everyone to “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” rather than fixing the myriad problems it has created.

If you’re not going to fix the problems you’ve created in the real world, why should the public trust you to create a whole new digital world? You can talk and talk until you’re blue in the face, but people’s perception of your brand will always tie back to the actions your brand takes in the real world or, in this case, the digital one.

Want to talk to us more about what goes into crafting the perfect brand name? Visit madeby87.com