4 ms·

Threads is pretty dang generic. Facebook also renamed itself to Meta and Google to Alphabet. There seems to be a competition among tech billionaires to try to c

Threads is pretty dang generic. Facebook also renamed itself to Meta and Google to Alphabet. There seems to be a competition among tech billionaires to try to come up with the blandest brand names possible.

cypress66 3y ago
I kinda like Meta, but alphabet is awful (and I almost never hear it)
- otachack 3y ago
  Alphabet is used a lot in economic radio programs as the parent to Google, so it's definitely doing its job in non-tech fields.
- mrweasel 3y ago
  > and I almost never hear it I honestly believe that the point. Alphabet is suppose to be faceless and unseen. It's free from the perception of it's subservient brands and can act freely to promote it's own interest regardless of public opinion.
- chrisco255 3y ago
  Which brand was more sticky: Meta Quest or Oculus Quest?
- narinxas 3y ago
  what I dislike is that this may affect the generic prefix "meta-" from greek (I'm reasonably sure it's greek, not latin) the prefix from "meta-physics" and other "meta-things"... in latin this prefix translated into "super-"
photonbucket 3y ago
It's also not effective. Mainstream people are never going to talk about 'X' or 'Meta' but will just stick with the old names
- madcaptenor 3y ago
  Journalists seem to talk about "X, the service formerly known as Twitter" or similar - I guess they have to call the company by its official name but also want people to know what they're talking about
  - harshalizee 3y ago
    In the end, it has the same result as "the artist, formerly known as Prince".
    - kevindamm 3y ago
      Closest I could find in Unicode is Ƭ̵̬̊
      - saratogacx 3y ago
        You're just missing the correct font support https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/04/princes-legendary-floppy-disk-symbol-font.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/04/princes-legendary-fl...
  - datavirtue 3y ago
    If I were writing about it as a journalist I would just refer to it as Twitter.com.
    - praash 3y ago
      The major media outlets have clearly missed the chance to just call it x-twitter!
    - agolliver 3y ago
      Editors & style guides don't tend to give you that choice.
  - moffkalast 3y ago
    Some call it Xitter (/shiˈtter/).
eastbound 3y ago
It helps preventing people from succeeding to search for negative affairs on Google. Try “scandal Facebook” vs “scandal Meta”. And it barely impacts the brand recognition if you do marketing right. I wonder why politicians don’t all rename themselves “Joe Smith”.
- hotnfresh 3y ago
  Name recognition is basically the single most important factor on Election Day.
jowea 3y ago
Facebook and Google renaming were on the corporate side. I can still go to google.com or facebook.com and see the normal branding. And Facebook specially was part of an actual marketing strategy.
- chrisco255 3y ago
  They renamed the Oculus VR to Meta. Oculus still a better brand name than the generic meta.

cypress66 3y ago

I kinda like Meta, but alphabet is awful (and I almost never hear it)

otachack 3y ago
Alphabet is used a lot in economic radio programs as the parent to Google, so it's definitely doing its job in non-tech fields.
mrweasel 3y ago
> and I almost never hear it I honestly believe that the point. Alphabet is suppose to be faceless and unseen. It's free from the perception of it's subservient brands and can act freely to promote it's own interest regardless of public opinion.
chrisco255 3y ago
Which brand was more sticky: Meta Quest or Oculus Quest?
narinxas 3y ago
what I dislike is that this may affect the generic prefix "meta-" from greek (I'm reasonably sure it's greek, not latin) the prefix from "meta-physics" and other "meta-things"... in latin this prefix translated into "super-"

photonbucket 3y ago

It's also not effective. Mainstream people are never going to talk about 'X' or 'Meta' but will just stick with the old names

madcaptenor 3y ago
Journalists seem to talk about "X, the service formerly known as Twitter" or similar - I guess they have to call the company by its official name but also want people to know what they're talking about
- harshalizee 3y ago
  In the end, it has the same result as "the artist, formerly known as Prince".
  - kevindamm 3y ago
    Closest I could find in Unicode is Ƭ̵̬̊
    - saratogacx 3y ago
      You're just missing the correct font support https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/04/princes-legendary-floppy-disk-symbol-font.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/04/princes-legendary-fl...
- datavirtue 3y ago
  If I were writing about it as a journalist I would just refer to it as Twitter.com.
  - praash 3y ago
    The major media outlets have clearly missed the chance to just call it x-twitter!
  - agolliver 3y ago
    Editors & style guides don't tend to give you that choice.
- moffkalast 3y ago
  Some call it Xitter (/shiˈtter/).

eastbound 3y ago

It helps preventing people from succeeding to search for negative affairs on Google. Try “scandal Facebook” vs “scandal Meta”. And it barely impacts the brand recognition if you do marketing right. I wonder why politicians don’t all rename themselves “Joe Smith”.

hotnfresh 3y ago
Name recognition is basically the single most important factor on Election Day.

jowea 3y ago

Facebook and Google renaming were on the corporate side. I can still go to google.com or facebook.com and see the normal branding. And Facebook specially was part of an actual marketing strategy.

chrisco255 3y ago
They renamed the Oculus VR to Meta. Oculus still a better brand name than the generic meta.