In an announcement at the Facebook Connect conference, founder Mark Zuckerberg said legacy apps like Facebook and Instagram will now be part of the new metaverse-focused parent company. Mark Zuckerberg has spoken about the company becoming one that is increasingly seen as a "metaverse business", and last week the technology powerhouse announced plans to hire 10,000 people across the EU to help bring this idea together.

The metaverse is a concept coined in the 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash to describe a kind of three-dimensional virtual reality version of the internet where people are present as avatars and move through a digital representation of the real world. Mark Zuckerberg expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade. "Today we are seen as a social media company," he said. "But in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people."

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Facebook now Meta said in a post "We opened this year’s Connect with a film that shares our vision for a future made by all of us. The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. It's a collective project that will be created by people all over the world, and open to everyone. You’ll be able to socialize, learn, collaborate and play in ways that go beyond what’s possible today. Whether you’re imagining feeling closer to your long-distance family members or dancing with your friends wherever they are"

The corporation's products include Instagram, Messenger, its Quest VR headset and its Horizon VR platform. Meta unveiled a new sign at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, replacing its thumbs-up "like" logo with a blue infinity shape.