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March 5, 2022
Meet the Metamates – Metaverse’s Rebranding
Now that Facebook has rebranded itself as Meta, employees no longer refer to themselves as Facebookers. Instead, employees of the Metaverse are now to be collectively known as Metamates.
Everything you need to know in less than 50 words
Now that Facebook has rebranded itself as Meta, employees no longer refer to themselves as Facebookers. Instead, employees of the Metaverse are now to be collectively known as Metamates.
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Mark Zuckerberg announced on February 15, 2022, that all employees in the Metaverse shall now be called Metamates. This branding includes employees from Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and all of Meta’s other companies.
The incoming CTO of Meta, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth claims that the idea for the “Metamates” moniker came from the physicist, cognitive scientist, and author Douglas Hofstader. Hofstader drew from the Navy’s idea of “ship, shipmates, self” to suggest the guiding principle of “Meta, Metamates, Me.”
Zuckerberg says that Meta, Metamates, and Me is about staying true to the company and its mission and about responsibilities toward and taking care of the company and each other.
With the adoption of this new motto for the company, Zuckerberg further expounded on four principles for Meta going forward:
- Focus on long-term impact: Implores Metamates to extend their impact beyond near-term wins to doing what seems most impactful in the long-term
- Build awesome things: Pushes Metamates to building projects that are useful as well as inspirational for the masses
- Live in the future: Guides Metamates toward distributing work for a future that’s not bound by geography
- Be direct and respect your colleagues: Asks Metamates to create a culture of straightforward communication, respect, and feedback that acknowledges the expert status of teammates.
Of course, the idea of Metamates hasn’t come without its fair share of mockery from within and without the company.
One Metamate asked in internal company chat if this means they’re on a sinking ship. Another joked that “Metamates report to the Metatorium for a Metameeting.”
Twitter commenters have said it sounds like a dating app, a name for elementary-school-aged pals, or maybe even a prophylactic brand.
Our Two Cents
Having a name for everyone working for Meta further incorporates all its employees into a collective unit.
It was nearly impossible to create an all-encompassing Meta-related name for Meta employees without sounding a bit tacky, so Metamates works as well as any other name.
However, no matter the ultimate name for the employees as a whole, we believe that it’s a common-sense move to unite employees toward the future that Zuckerberg envisions for the company and all its team members.
Source: New York Times
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