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I bet this will be generally effective at shielding their other properties from bad news about Facebook. For ordinary people, "WhatsApp is owned by Meta" is go

I bet this will be generally effective at shielding their other properties from bad news about Facebook. For ordinary people, "WhatsApp is owned by Meta" is going to feel really different from "WhatsApp is owned by Facebook".

zamadatix 5y ago
Maybe but I'd be surprised. How many (both tech folks or news articles) really associate Fitbit/Waymo/DeepMind primarily with Alphabet instead of Google? Even clicking a recent story which refers to it as an Alphabet subsidy they reference it as "DeepMind, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet,".
tailspin2019 5y ago
Sadly, I think you’re right, given a long enough time frame. It’s probably a smart move on Facebook’s part. Doesn’t stop them being terrible though.
- pjerem 5y ago
  > Doesn’t stop them being terrible though. Well, it depends on if they want to keep the Meta name clean from scandals. But I doubt they manage too. It’s a company DNA issue at this point.
  - takeda 5y ago
    With name like "meta" it will be harder to find bad press about them.
    - xwolfi 5y ago
      Should have called themselves "F" but I think you're actually onto something.
rexreed 5y ago
Will this work, or will this just be like Google's Alphabet, which the general person-on-the-street doesn't know or care about?
- stetrain 5y ago
  Having people on the street not know or care about who owns WhatsApp and Instagram seems like it might be the point.
  - Jansen312 5y ago
    People on the street don't know about Alphabet is what the above post implied. People will not know about Meta as well hence everyone will still say it is own by Facebook which gotten so much negative feedback that it had to change its name to Meta but essentially still the FB who is own by that Zuck guy.
  - rexreed 5y ago
    My point was that Google's rebrand DIDN'T work. Very few people know Google as Alphabet. They still know it as Google (the people on the street that is). So, will Facebook's rebrand have the effect of Bell Atlantic + GTE's rebrand as Verizon, or will it have the effect Google's rebrand as Alphabet? I hope (and feel) like the ruse will not work.
    - frankchn 5y ago
      That's because all of Google's main consumer properties didn't get branding changes and are still all "Google Maps" or "Google Photos", etc... WhatsApp and Instagram are much stronger brands, and are not already branded "Facebook WhatsApp" or "WhatsApp by Facebook".
      - aidaman 5y ago
        Really not true. The same number of people will know Facebook as owning them as do now. Like now people are like, "you know Instagram is owned by Facebook right?" That's not going to change.
ootsootsoots 5y ago
Worked for Xfinity
- elliekelly 5y ago
  This might be the nicest thing I’ve ever said about Comcast but I think their slow roll-out approach was better (from a PR perspective) than what facebook is doing. There was no big bandaid pull where Comcast was suddenly Xfinity it just sort of... happened?
  - ootsootsoots 5y ago
    Older companies tend to be run by pre-internet leadership, with deep and wide political connections and awareness. They tend to do better with PR slight of hand. Maybe because they get it’s all a political boondoggle and SV companies are run by finance wonks.
  - markkanof 5y ago
    Did it really happen though? I still see stuff with Comcast on it. Like technician trucks, random web pages, postal mailings, etc. It seems to me that they just came up with the term Xfinity and then slowly associated it back with the Comcast name, so now both Comcast and Xfinity can be thought of as terrible companies.
chaostheory 5y ago
Meta is a real word that's still actively being used. imo this will make it harder to find bad news about the company in the future.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  That might not be entirely coincidental.
  - debaserab2 5y ago
    Entirely. Almost seems like word play to soften the blow of critical headlines.
- baby 5y ago
  Like “apple”?
  - chaostheory 5y ago
    Yeah, but there's already a ton of training data available even when Google was just starting out. That's not the case with Meta. You still have a point.

zamadatix 5y ago

Maybe but I'd be surprised. How many (both tech folks or news articles) really associate Fitbit/Waymo/DeepMind primarily with Alphabet instead of Google? Even clicking a recent story which refers to it as an Alphabet subsidy they reference it as "DeepMind, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet,".

tailspin2019 5y ago

Sadly, I think you’re right, given a long enough time frame. It’s probably a smart move on Facebook’s part. Doesn’t stop them being terrible though.

pjerem 5y ago
> Doesn’t stop them being terrible though. Well, it depends on if they want to keep the Meta name clean from scandals. But I doubt they manage too. It’s a company DNA issue at this point.
- takeda 5y ago
  With name like "meta" it will be harder to find bad press about them.
  - xwolfi 5y ago
    Should have called themselves "F" but I think you're actually onto something.

rexreed 5y ago

Will this work, or will this just be like Google's Alphabet, which the general person-on-the-street doesn't know or care about?

stetrain 5y ago
Having people on the street not know or care about who owns WhatsApp and Instagram seems like it might be the point.
- Jansen312 5y ago
  People on the street don't know about Alphabet is what the above post implied. People will not know about Meta as well hence everyone will still say it is own by Facebook which gotten so much negative feedback that it had to change its name to Meta but essentially still the FB who is own by that Zuck guy.
- rexreed 5y ago
  My point was that Google's rebrand DIDN'T work. Very few people know Google as Alphabet. They still know it as Google (the people on the street that is). So, will Facebook's rebrand have the effect of Bell Atlantic + GTE's rebrand as Verizon, or will it have the effect Google's rebrand as Alphabet? I hope (and feel) like the ruse will not work.
  - frankchn 5y ago
    That's because all of Google's main consumer properties didn't get branding changes and are still all "Google Maps" or "Google Photos", etc... WhatsApp and Instagram are much stronger brands, and are not already branded "Facebook WhatsApp" or "WhatsApp by Facebook".
    - aidaman 5y ago
      Really not true. The same number of people will know Facebook as owning them as do now. Like now people are like, "you know Instagram is owned by Facebook right?" That's not going to change.

ootsootsoots 5y ago

Worked for Xfinity

elliekelly 5y ago
This might be the nicest thing I’ve ever said about Comcast but I think their slow roll-out approach was better (from a PR perspective) than what facebook is doing. There was no big bandaid pull where Comcast was suddenly Xfinity it just sort of... happened?
- ootsootsoots 5y ago
  Older companies tend to be run by pre-internet leadership, with deep and wide political connections and awareness. They tend to do better with PR slight of hand. Maybe because they get it’s all a political boondoggle and SV companies are run by finance wonks.
- markkanof 5y ago
  Did it really happen though? I still see stuff with Comcast on it. Like technician trucks, random web pages, postal mailings, etc. It seems to me that they just came up with the term Xfinity and then slowly associated it back with the Comcast name, so now both Comcast and Xfinity can be thought of as terrible companies.

chaostheory 5y ago

Meta is a real word that's still actively being used. imo this will make it harder to find bad news about the company in the future.

jacquesm 5y ago
That might not be entirely coincidental.
- debaserab2 5y ago
  Entirely. Almost seems like word play to soften the blow of critical headlines.
baby 5y ago
Like “apple”?
- chaostheory 5y ago
  Yeah, but there's already a ton of training data available even when Google was just starting out. That's not the case with Meta. You still have a point.