Enter the Zuckerverse? Social media churns with new names for Facebook

[October 21, 2021]  By Nivedita Balu and Antonio Denti

(Reuters) - Zuckerverse. Timesuck. Faceplant.

They're just a few of the suggestions being bandied around online following reports that Facebook plans to rebrand itself with a new group name. The company refused to comment on rumor or speculation, of course, but the Twitterati had no problem.

The debate careered from sensible to screwball to strange.

"Meta" was one of the more sober trending suggestions, referring to Facebook's reported desire to assume a name that focuses on the metaverse, a virtual environment where users can hang out.

Bookface, Facegram, Facetagram, FreeFace, FreeTalk, World Changer.

On the wilder side, Twitter user Dave Pell drew a comparison with musician Kanye West who recently changed his name to "Ye".

"It would be awesome if Facebook changes its name to Ye," he said.

Several humorous suggestions reflected online speculation that the alleged rebrand was driven by founder Mark Zuckerberg's yearning to make Facebook "cool" once more.
 

The platform has been deserted by many younger users who have moved to apps like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, and has become increasingly populated by older people.

"Teenage Wasteland", one wit suggested.

"The Old People's App because that's what us younger people call it," college student Vittoria Esteves told Reuters in Rome.

"Boomerville", suggested Marco, referring to so-called baby boomers born in the years following World War II.

'STREISAND EFFECT'

The online naming feast was sparked by a report on the Verge tech site that a newly named group would act as a parent for all the company's brands, including Facebook itself, Instagram and WhatsApp, and reflect a focus on virtual and augmented reality.

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg addresses the audience on "the challenges of protecting free speech while combating hate speech online, fighting misinformation, and political data privacy and security," at a forum hosted by Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics) and the McCourt School of Public Policy in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/File Photo

An announcement is expected next week, according to the report.

Many suggestions however reflected the public's concern about how the company handles user safety and hate speech. Internal documents leaked by a whistleblower formed the basis for a U.S. Senate hearing last week.

"Fakebook", for example. Tracebook.

Other people were sceptical whether a name change would be enough to detract from the growing legal and regulatory scrutiny that has tarnished the company's reputation.

"It's going to be the Barbra Streisand effect thing going on," said 20-year old Glasgow student Thomas van der Hoven, referring to the phenomenon where seeking to suppress something inadvertently turbo-charges popular interest in it.

"So they're going to try and change it, and then that's just going to put the spotlight on the fact that they're changing it. Why are they changing this?" he added. "So it's probably going to spit back in their face at some point."

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Antonio Denti; Additional reporting by Reuters newsrooms; Writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Pravin Char)

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