What is FB REALLY communicating by Changing their name?

Facebook announced the week of October 18, 2021 that it will be changing its name due to its negative reputation about reticent political standings.

Facebook announced the week of October 25, 2021 that it will be changing its name to Meta – to create a metaverse.

As a branding strategist, I know that we are creatures of association. What do you think when you think of the word meta?

For me, I think of the word metadata. What is meta – data?

According to Oxford Dictionary Metadata is defined as a set of data that describes and gives information about other data.

When I think of metadata I think of the data that is stored in pictures when you save it to your phone or computer. Like how does it know what date the photo was taken. That is meta data.

The Logo is even more telling, an infinity symbol communicating that EVERYTHING is connected.

My opinion is the reason for them changing their name flops and quite frankly a “smoking mirror” because if they are changing the name from Facebook to Meta to get away from their association with selling meta data AND the political affiliations (which is just another form of meta data). When their name tells you exactly what they are doing – collecting your meta data to sell.

I am curious as to your thought on this topic. Do you think its a smoking mirror? Do you think this was a great move on their part?