Strategy identification behind Facebook's rebranding into Meta. The complexities surrounding Metaverse and the different capabilities required. The article talks about the new competitive advantages that should be surrounding Meta, assuming they translate.
Facebook aimed to create the best user experience by tailoring content to the users' tastes
and preferences. It focused on creating the best user experience by creating new products and services through development and acquisitions. Facebook used customer data to create the best customer experience. Following user trends and engagements such as likes, shares, and reactions allowed their algorithms to tailor the users' page to generate content of their liking. The data are also adequate for marketing advertisements. Facebook generated $28 billion in revenue in 2021, $21 billion in 2020.
Meta's strategy is to build a social experience by using technology to connect families,
friends, and communities. The rebranded firm plans to create a Metaverse platform that allows people and communities to play, work and connect via online experiences. It offers users 3-D spaces using Virtual Reality and Augmented reality technologies. In addition, Meta is using pre-existing resources to scale its innovative technology in a time when people want to feel connected the most, the post-pandemic.
Let's delve into it from Leader as an Architect perspective:
Critical Tasks
Facebook’s initial thinking was to bring people close together from anywhere in the
world. The task now is to break the very realm of reality and create a limitless digital universe. Hence, the infinity logo in its new symbol and the name change to Meta representing the thinking of extraterrestrial exploration (Metaverse) beyond the confines of our planet. The indispensable digital experience that touches our life so deeply is at the base of this argument.
The rebranding not only represents a multi-brand approach going into the future but also a
multi-product approach. The end goal is as clear as ever to change the company’s current
reputation. The earlier design with Facebook created a dystopian thinking about its products within its users especially after the exposure of data security issues by Congress. Moving forward they want to create a joyous and convenient experience for its end users.
Formal Organization
Facebook has been thinking of transitioning from its platforms such as Instagram,
Whatsapp and Facebook itself to a medium based approach such as Virtual & Augmented
Reality. The reason behind this is that the company intends virtual reality to be the driving force behind the organization overall. It can be compared to Google’s parent company move to Alphabet. It wants to move away from the software, platforms, tools and other companies it has acquired over the years to a more centralized and visionary organization. The new structure tends to move away from the current struggles and towards new growth opportunities. The new emergence of the publicization policy of “next generation of online social experiences” is something that might live up to the task. The earlier design was a source of chaos, misinformation and privacy breaches; this new design will likely not emulate the earlier one and set the tone for the future.
People
The rebranding move has created thousands of new jobs in the labs that make hardware
and software for the Metaverse.13 People within the Facebook organization are being promoted to re-apply for new jobs based on augmented and virtual reality. This has created havoc and uncertainty among existing employees. Employees feel internal disruption and are questioning whether the company was hurtling into a new product without fixing issues such as misinformation and extremism on its existing social platforms.14 The workers are expected to keep a positive attitude towards the new innovation being advocated by the company or are asked to leave. Some of the talented workforce who did not agree with the new mission statement of the company have already left. It is also being predicted that although new jobs will come around by the end of 2022, existing teams will be shrunk dramatically. This is already an ongoing procedure and budget cuts are constant. Mike Scroepher, the longest serving chief technology officer is also stepping down, showcasing the unrest prevalent within the company at the moment. Current platform workers feel their work will soon be immaterial to the company as it only focuses on Reality Labs moving forward.
Culture
Meta will change its company culture to restrict the flow of internal information. The
information will be made less available to its own staff. The company’s senior executives such as communications chief Nick Clegg have both slowed and scrutinized the release of work from internal researchers to the wider company. After whistleblower and former employee Frances Haugen came out from the Integrity unit, the company focus has shifted to reduce leaks. Meta is working on revitalizing the culture and keeping an open perception for the community.
Future Recommendations:
Currently, however, it is far from a transparent culture. The new culture statement offered by the company being “At Meta, you will have the opportunity to work with great people, tackle challenges and make a real impact, wherever you work- while being your own authentic self.” As mentioned earlier, when Meta was Facebook, its competitive advantage was using its platform for people to stay connected across the world. It was the leading social media platform, but the previous strategy was not sustainable. Competitors gained popularity, and younger users found apps like Snapchat and TikTok more interesting. In addition, Facebook's ongoing class-action privacy lawsuit raised privacy concerns amongst its users. These setbacks were the primary reasons for the rebrand to Meta. Now the company is repositioning itself under a new culture, new core principles, and a revamped mission statement.
Meta should generate awareness about the virtual world and its benefits. Especially now
that the corporate world is shifting to remote work. Advertising about virtual and augmented realities is critical. Meta's vision should be to create a perception that the Metaverse can be accessed from anywhere, including your phone, computer, AR glasses, and a VR headset. As many more communities exist online today, the goal is to create an escape from the physical reality with complete ease. They should aim to gain majority market share through proper research and development in positioning the Meta brand within the Metaverse realm. Microsoft tends to do the same. Maintaining a reality check with user engagement and retention as accepting the virtual world is still considered a choice rather than a necessity. The aim going forward is to reduce friction in collaboration across distance, ensuring the location isn't an advantage in terms of participation or opportunity, striving for people to have work/life balance, and leveling individual choice with the health of teams and organizations. Support people and groups as we experiment, iterate, evolve, and loop back all the findings to the brand repositioning process. Maintain the same tech quality and experience no matter where you operate.
Citations:
- https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-leaks-facebook-clamps-down-culture-of-open-information-verge-2021-11#: ~:text=Meta%20has%20changed%20its%20company,internal%20research%2C%20per%20The%20Verge.
-https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/technology/facebook-meta-change.html
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/how-facebook-is-morphing-into-meta/articleshow/89307937.cms
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