Meta Platforms adopted the name Meta in 2021 after previously being known as Facebook.
The company announced the rebranding at its Connect conference on October 28, 2021, and the corporate name changed from Facebook, Inc. to Meta Platforms, Inc. The move reflected an effort to distinguish the parent company from Facebook, its social-networking service, and to emphasize investment in virtual and augmented reality, digital environments, and other technologies.
Facebook itself remained the name of the social network. Meta also continued to own Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The company’s stock ticker changed from FB to META in June 2022, after shareholder approval and the formal transition to the new corporate identity.
A frequent confusion is treating Meta as a replacement name for the Facebook app. It was instead the name of the parent corporation. Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard students, while Meta’s rebranding came 17 years later. The new identity also connected with the company’s stated interest in the metaverse, a term used for persistent, networked digital spaces.