BREAKING: Facebook rebrands to Meta, Zuckerberg unveils 'metaverse'

Mark Zuckerberg has shared his vision for the 'metaverse' and how Facebook will take part in building the future.

Announced at Facebook's annual Connect conference, Zuckerberg sats the metaverse will be a social, 3D virtual space where users can share immersive experiences with other people, even when they can't be together in person - and do things together they couldn't do in the physical world.

"I'm proud of what we've built so far, and I'm excited about what comes next -- as we move beyond what's possible today, beyond the constraints of screens, beyond the limits of distance and physics, and towards a future where everyone can be present with each other, create new opportunities and experience new things," Zuckerberg says.

"It is a future that is beyond any one company and that will be made by all of us.

"Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can't possibly represent everything that we're doing today, let alone in the future," he says.

"Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company, and I want to anchor our work and identity on what we're building toward."

Alongside the vision for the metaverse, Zuckerberg also shared more about the progress the company is making today with some of the foundational elements across its AR - VR technologies.

"VR is at an inflection point led by the release of Quest 2. Games are booming, VR is getting more social, fitness is becoming a hot vertical, and ' building out more ways VR can be used as a work device," Zuckerberg says.

"And, we continue to invest in the developer community to help them build and monetise their applications through new tools and features."

"As VR hits an inflection point, Zuckerberg says Facebook is investing in the core technology and work needed to bring fully-featured AR glasses to market.

"While we work on the hardware to make AR glasses, we are cultivating the content, capabilities, and communities that can enrich Facebook experiences today and illuminate the path to AR glasses ahead," he says.

To reflect this new chapter for the company, Facebook is officially rebranding to Meta.

"Our new company brand captures where our company is going and the future we want to help build," says Zuckerberg.

"We chose Meta because it can mean beyond, and captures our commitment to building social technologies that take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today.

"We are also introducing a new logo and colour to accompany our new company brand. The logo is treated in a blue gradient - as a nod to our heritage. It's designed to be experienced in 3D so that it truly comes to life in the metaverse - where you can move through it and around it."

Introducing Meta: A Social Technology Company

Zuckerberg says Meta brings together its apps and technologies under one new company brand. Meta's focus will be to "bring the metaverse to life" and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.

"The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today's online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world," he says.

"It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can't be together and do things together you couldn't do in the physical world. It's the next evolution in a long line of social technologies, and its ushering in a new chapter for our company."

Facebook's annual Connect conference brings together augmented and virtual reality developers, content creators, marketers and others to celebrate the industry's momentum and growth.

"This year's virtual event explored what experiences in the metaverse could feel like over the next decade from social connection, to entertainment, gaming, fitness, work, education and commerce," Zuckerberg says.

"We also announced new tools to help people build for the metaverse, including Presence Platform, which will enable new mixed reality experiences on Quest 2, and a $150-million investment in immersive learning to train the next generation of creators."

Zuckerberg says the corporate structure is not changing.

"However, how we report on our financials will. Starting with our results for the fourth quarter of 2021, we plan to report on two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs. We also intend to start trading under the new stock ticker we have reserved, Meta, on December 1."