Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
  • Facebook is reportedly changing its name and may announce it next week.
  • Twitter has devolved into jokes and guesses on what the new brand might be.
  • "Zuckistan," "Face," and "Three Facebooks in a Trench Coat" are some of the ideas being thrown out.

Facebook is rebranding and will adopt a new name, The Verge reported late Tuesday.

The name, which could be announced as soon as next week, will steer the brand toward CEO Mark Zuckerberg's goal of becoming a "metaverse company" instead of merely a social media platform. The Facebook app will exist under the new brand's name, kind of like Google existing under the Alphabet umbrella.

Inevitably, Twitter users have begun speculating about what it could be and poking fun at the news, which comes as Facebook remains embroiled in regulatory scrutiny and a broad public backlash.

Many users joked that Zuckerberg would rebrand the company as "The Facebook," which was once the platform's name before it famously dropped the "the."

Facebook has been rocked in recent months by a series of Wall Street Journal reports, based on leaked documents, about several of the company's business practices, including its research into Instagram's effects on teens' self-confidence. The whistleblower behind the leaks later testified in front of Congress, saying Facebook prioritizes profits over safety and needs intervention.

The metaverse concept has been portrayed in movies like "The Matrix." It's a virtual space where people can interact using digital avatars. Zuckerberg has called it "an embodied internet."

Facebook said it's hiring 10,000 people across Europe to specifically work on Facebook's metaverse mission.

Read the original article on Business Insider