Asian Tech Press (OCT 29) -- Social media giant Facebook announced that it has officially changed its name to Meta, announcing a new look for the company as it embraces the metaverse era.

After the name change, all Facebook's technologies and applications will be integrated into the new company brand. There are no changes to the company's structure. Still, there will be changes to the way it does financial reporting, with its hardware division Facebook Reality Labs, which is responsible for augmented and virtual reality, becoming a separate reporting unit from its family of applications starting in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO and chairman of the new company. Zuckerberg said he was determined to change the name for the company because he recognized that a shift had taken place within the company. Consistently investing heavily in building the Metaverse, Zuckerberg stated that the metaverse is the next frontier at the live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference. From now on, the company will put the metaverse first.

Facebook said its stock will start trading under the new symbol "MVRS" on Dec. 1. Facebook's eponymous service was demoted to one of the company's subsidiaries, alongside Instagram and WhatsApp. In addition, the company's logo was changed from a blue thumb to a blue infinity symbol.

The Metaverse is a digital world generated by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual spaces, where users can have hands-on experiences through avatars.