Will Facebook’s Name Change —Change Their Reputation?

Every day there is something new in the news about Facebook. It’s the biggest of all the social media networks in the world. With roughly 2.89 billion users it has the largest network with over 1.84 daily users.

The name change according to an article in the Verge is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail.

The Facebook Fail

Recently Facebook and its Instagram suffered the longest of their service interruptions on record, a drop that affected millions of users around the world.

Many people have written that they enjoyed the day off of social media and more are taking “social media breaks.”

Not only that but many businesses are shifting their ad dollars from Facebook recently. Many of these small companies are looking at ROI and the fact that Facebook can go offline for hours and not give any ad refunds. You get a message in your feed of apology only.

On that last Facebook outage a few weeks ago, there was $79 million in ad revenues lost. That was in 6 hours alone! (That = $316,000,000 per day on Facebook ads x 7 days = $2,212,000,00 per week.) You can do the math to see how big the numbers would go.

The Other Issues

Of course, there are many other issues with censorship being the biggest one of all this past year. You can just Google the terms and see there are lawsuits after lawsuits against Facebook for censoring.

Many Facebook users are going over to alternative social media networks where there are not being censored for their beliefs.

Again, others are leaving social media altogether as they were experiencing too much drama with friends and families.

Cost of Lawsuits Against Facebook

Not just in relation to United States politics but other issues as well around the world. Back in January of 2021 “A federal judge indicated that a $110 million fee request is reasonable for attorneys who negotiated a $650 million settlement for Facebook users, who alleged that the social media giant’s facial recognition tool violated privacy laws.”

Now, that is just one case alone. How many cases would risk Facebook's wealth?

Between the legal fees and loss of future ad revenues Facebook could be in for a shaky financial future.

Common Reasons for a Business Name Change

• An owner wants a new name.
• A change of ownership.
• Eroding market share.
• A change in the market.
• The damaged reputation of a brand.
• The name is not reflective of the business it is in.
• A fresh start for a brand.

Does a Name Change Matter?

In researching some brand name changes I came across Google. It was called Backrub before they become known. Apple Inc. changed to Apple Computers but that isn’t a big change?

The rumor is that Facebook may be changed to “The Facebook.” No big change either. But a lot of money to add “the” to their name!

Other brand names I saw that changed are little known or are no longer in business.

I’d love to know which company names you have known to change and the results.

The Name Change Cost

Did you know “Unlike private companies, public companies need to get constituents’ approval before changing their names?”

This includes informing shareholders, employees, customers, and vendors of the company’s name change before it becomes official. Shareholders who own stock in certification form will need to have their certificates updated.”

Not only that but it’s very expensive for a company to change its name and logo. Legal documents, branding material, trademarks, and much more go into changing a company’s name.

The Reputation of Facebook

When Facebook first came online it was known for young people. It was if you remember, a few college students (including Mark Zuckerberg) who rated women on campus on their looks.

Today young people have moved on to Instagram (owned by Facebook), Tik Tok, and Snapchat. They don’t want to be on the same platform their parents and grandparents are on.

Now, the older people are getting feed up with the censorship and drama of all the political scenes of the past few years on Facebook.

Not only that but the money that Facebook spent over $400 million on political campaigns has upset at least 50% of its user base.

Day after day there are new reports of new Facebook scandals and whistleblowers. Their reputation is sliding day by day.

Facebook Was Fun

The first few years of Facebook were fun for users. You could connect with old friends and family. Everyone shared photos or videos. There were barely any if any at all ads in the stream.

Now the feed is filled with ads and news. People are not enjoying their time on the network. Many are still there for marketing purposes to generate income or to see family photos.

People now spend an average of 35 minutes on Facebook per day. This is a substantially lower amount of time than in previous years.

Most of the time people are looking at videos in the Facebook video stream section of their network.

Will The Facebook Survive?

The new name may be “The Facebook”. Will it survive? Probably. Will it be as big? Maybe not.

A lot can change for Facebook in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Though who thought back in the day that MySpace would be history? Facebook may follow that same path. Only time will tell.