I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has been surprised at the news that Facebook is about to rebrand to a new name in the coming few days...
Looking at the current success and dominance in the social media space, it might be the weirdest thing for Facebook to think about at this point is rebranding...
I mean it is easy to expect an embattled company or weak corporation to change its name in an attest to show itself in a "different appearance" or for marketing purposes, but does this apply to Facebook?!
Facebook is already one of the most successful brands in the world, so it doesn't seem to be the case here. Moreover, a rebrand may also have the side effect of losing some old customers, according to several statistics and previous other companies' experiences.
Why should they do that, then?
According to the verge, this move could be to reflect the effort Facebook is making in order to establish its identity as a "metaverse company". In fact, the CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly said in one of the interviews: “we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”
Many Facebook officials have stated on multiple occasions that Facebook is going to present other products related to AI, Metaverse, and virtual reality- and according to them, Facebook being synonymous with social media space only is not good for the future expansion of the company. They also cite Google's move to rebrand its head company to Alphabet when it wanted to focus on other non-search businesses back in 2015. Thus, if Facebook really wants to venture into other businesses, it should firstly get rid of the stereotype of most people that Facebook is just a social media platform. That is why a rebrand is a must.
This might make a lot of sense, but as a manic who continuously follows crypto news, I couldn't shake the feeling that there is something much more than meets the eye. Something related to crypto and especially Facebook's highly anticipated coin, Diem (formerly Libra)
These feelings had only been confirmed when I stumbled across a message from some Democrat senators to Mark Zuckerberg a few days ago, in which they appeared to be setting fire to Facebook and the Diem crypto project. As it seems, many American politicians still have serious issues with Facebook's pans to launch a cryptocurrency in light of recent scandals involving Facebook’s failure to protect its users. Anyone reading the message can easily feel the anger and aggressive tone towards Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Given the scope of the scandals surrounding your company, we write to voice our strongest opposition to Facebook’s revived effort to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet, now branded “Diem” and “Novi,” .
Unfortunately, Facebook’s decision to pursue a digital currency and payments network is just one more example of the company “moving fast and breaking things”
Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient.
It is not a random message, it is a message from American policymakers (including the most crypto-skeptic ones such as Brian Schatz, Sherrod Brown, Richard Blumenthal, and Elizabeth Warren ) who have the power to disturb Facebook and its crypto and non-crypto plans. And I don't think they are alone in discrediting Facebook. In fact, when it comes to trust, it is too hard to find anyone who has a little of it in Facebook. This might be the first time that regulators and people are on the same page.
While I believe that Facebook does have money, ability, and connection to please regulators at the end of the day, I highly doubt it will be able to shift public distrust of it. After all, you can't expect that people who got sick of hearing news of Facebook breaching their personal data and making profits at the expense of it to easily trust Facebook anymore especially with their own financial affairs!
This is the "bitter truth" for Facebook, and I reckon the rebrand was (at least in part) to try and dress up a new look and erase what can be erased from its controversial history. It might be a necessary move in order to introduce Facebook as a different entity to gain some of the lost public confidence.
This is just my personal view of Facebook's decision and I could be mistaken about it. However, what I am sure of is that Facebook will spare no effort in persuading people to buy its upcoming stablecoin, whether it requires rebranding itself or anything else.
Whether it will succeed or not remains to be seen, but even if it did, I can't imagine myself holding a cryptocurrency that will be (in my humble opinion) more centralized than fiat, more fraudulent than Bitconnect, and more overrated than Dogecoin....
What do you guys think?
I'm keen to read your opinion and thoughts...
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