Introduction
Facebook, a giant American online communication platform, officially adopted the name Metaverse on October 28th, 2021. The Silicon Valley-based company, founded in 2004, was rebranded during the Connect 2021 conference signaling the onset of a global internet progression commonly referred to as Web 3.0 (Zyda, 2022). According to the New York Times, the change of brand was prompted by allegations tabled by Frances Haugens, a whistleblower who charged the company’s chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg with ethical malpractice.
The forecited 37-year-old taleteller claimed that Zuckerberg’s company infringed the privacy and safety policies of its users by prioritizing profits and foregoing the health implications of its content (Sriram, 2022). The rebranding was effected at the time when Zuckerberg was facing these allegations, which caught the public’s attention over time. An analysis of digital promotion techniques adopted by Facebook, its campaign use of social media platforms, and the theoretical frameworks associated with its rebranding form the basis of discussion for this paper.
Background Review of Facebook’s Rebranding
On a rather different ground, the company’s CEO argued that the rebranding process aimed at condensing other social media platforms such as Whatsapp and Instagram. The goal was to bring these channels under one umbrella to help people to socialize more efficiently through online interactions. The 37-year-old American billionaire later emphasized that Metaverse would be useful in promoting interpersonal connections across the globe while helping business owners to access a wider market through e-commerce. The CEO clarified further that the company’s identity transformation was tailored toward availing a hybrid avenue upon which online and social media surfers would compound their experiences using integrated software.
Concurrently, he clarified that the transformation to Meta platforms would provide a dynamic shift from the physical world to a more futuristic virtual existence, especially for gamers and artists. From the above discussion, it is evident that the rebranding targeted all former Facebook users, including entrepreneurs in cosmopolitan localities and those living in marginalized areas across the world. However, the whistleblower’s stance that Zuckerberg incorporated the idea of identity transmutability to divert users’ attention from the breach of privacy and safety allegations cannot be overlooked.
It is important to note that despite the accusations and controversies that the company faced at the time of identity transformation, the process was conducted smoothly. Recent updates from Zuckerberg demonstrate a successful transition into a technological-based software and virtual reality link that can be accessed without requiring the user to have an active Facebook account. Artists and celebrities such as Travis Scott and Arianna Grande have already conducted virtual concerts, while some Bitcoin owners have purchased intangible assets like land on the Metaverse. This implies that a significant proportion of users have started capitalizing on the rebranded application, using it as a tool to attain great experiences while welcoming more users to an augmented virtual space era. Ideally, the Metaverse platform is a key milestone that will pave the way for unprecedented socio-technological advancement and online network building (Narin, 2021).
Historical Background
Although some Facebook users may consider CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the pioneer of virtual reality, the origin of this niche dates back to twenty-nine years ago. In 1992, Neal Stephenson and William Gibson authored utopian novels, namely ‘Snow crash’ and ‘Neuromancer’ respectively (Stokel-Walker, 2021). The two masterpieces envisioned a glimpse into the dystopian future that blends a cluster of new technological components such as cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. For example, in the first novel, the author describes a digital environment explored by a user wearing the modern Oculus Quest 2. With the aid of a pair of headsets, he can navigate through a three-dimensional virtual space while exploring a wide range of habitats. This implies that Zuckerberg’s idea of an augmented existence, commonly referred to as the Metaverse, was already predetermined by the two authors. The two sections that follow highlight the significance of digital promotion and the role it played in publicizing the Metaverse campaign.
Introduction to Digital Promotion and the Need for its Incorporation in Business
The idea of digital promotion has gained popularity in the modern-day world of business and economics compared to the past several decades, including the times of the Great Depression. It entails the incorporation of online channels to market goods and services offered by a company. The online avenues mentioned above include but are not limited to social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, sales organizations, online marketing websites, and the internet. These channels can be used by business owners as links to connect potential customers to their respective sellers through digital communication (Narin, 2021). Platforms such as Whatsapp and Instagram had over two billion and 815 million users, respectively, as of 2019 (Muhlberg, 2021). The large statistics offer a solid framework that all companies can use to promote their merchandise at affordable charges.
The current dynamism in the business world makes it vital for all companies, small or large, to capitalize on digital promotion and online marketing. There are quite many factors that can easily inconvenience a company that relies on traditional methods of product promotion such use of salespersons. For example, the recent COVID-19 pandemic forced all firms to adopt a work-from-home policy, thus terminating any form of face-to-face business or advertising. The adoption of digital promotion methods allows companies to override such unplanned occurrences. Furthermore, sales agents may not be flexible enough to access potential clients living in remote areas and are easily affected by natural aspects such as bad weather (Narin, 2021). In cases where access is made possible, the company will have to incur additional charges in terms of transportation and food allowances which are separate from the mandatory basic salary.
Corresponding Section
Large companies such as Facebook, which have fully incorporated online marketing for their clients as well as themselves, tend to incur less overhead costs associated with promoting their products or informing their users about an upcoming upgrade or innovation. The company enjoys all the benefits related to digital promotion that have been highlighted in the previous paragraph, which includes reduced overhead costs. This prompts the need for other corporations that rely on traditional product promotion modalities to find better alternatives online. The section that follows describes how Facebook used the digital promotion strategy during its Metaverse brand campaign.
Digital Promotion of Facebook’s Metaverse Rebranding
In the case of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding, the use of social media websites and not-for-profit organizations did not occur in the manner that many would have expected. Facebook being a global company with a large number of active users as per the time of its identity transmutability, made it unnecessary to participate in active mass awareness about its prospects. However, there were prior announcements made by the CEO regarding the new software, Metaverse, that were publicized by major media houses in the United States (Mystakidis, 2022). The idea of rebranding was further escalated after the October conference when Zuckerberg officially launched the platform.
Over time, there have been controversial remarks from billionaire Elon Musk regarding Zuckerberg’s idea of a new reality. Musk has over 81 million followers and indirectly propagated the spread of Metaverse through his random tweets (Stokel-Walker, 2022). On the same note, different journals, tabloid newspapers, books, and business web pages mentioned the transition alongside the expected results. In a nutshell, the promotion of Zuckerberg’s platform through other digital modalities was not aggressive since the company already had a large number of active users who were well-informed about it. The section that follows highlights the implication of the transition on other social media platforms such as Whatsapp and Twitter.
Campaign Use of Facebook and Related Social Media Platforms as Public Relations Tools
Generally, public relations campaigns are centered on creating awareness about the existence of a product; changes were done to it or simply the introduction of a new one. Large communication companies like Facebook may use public relations campaigns to pursue objectives such as availing current trends to its users or restoring their image. During Facebook’s rebranding phase, there was massive sensitization through other media platforms for instance, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit.
The public relations campaign quickly spread from Facebook to other social media channels listed above. It is critical to note that most of these communications on social media were triggered by internet users themselves rather than the company (Lawrence, 2022). The consolidation of hashtags during the rebranding phase contributed to the active spread of the transition, especially on Twitter, where #Metaverse became a trending topic for several days. Whereas different Social Movement Organizations (SMO) and Non-Governmental Organizations played a negligible role in this digital promotion, the use of hashtag activism on Twitter channels gained massive momentum for mass awareness.
This technique can be best defined as making an issue popular by building public support and awareness around it. It is commonly practiced on Twitter whereby a topic that is deemed critical is actively projected to the public by the use of hashtags. According to one of the attached files, hashtag activism breeds familiarity whereby different internet users form discussion forums around a given topic or event, thus resulting in a strong driving force of civil engagement.
The incorporation of hashtags after Connect 2021 summit perpetuated a wild social movement across Twitter and Whatsapp, thus bridging the gap between collective and connective digital content promotion. Similarly, the aggressiveness of the movement depicts that Facebook has wide coverage averaging at two point nine billion users that quickly accessed the news and spread it to other social media channels (Zuckerberg, 2021). However, it is not clear whether the hashtag movement was triggered by the company itself or it was autonomously bottom-up (Fernandez, 2022). On the other hand, platforms such as Whatsapp might have played a key role in the promotion of the rebranding agenda when users update their statuses by posting trending topics within their locality.
These updates, when received by other individuals in their contact list, promote the trending topic even further. The section that follows gives an additional analysis of tribal marketing as an element of the theoretical framework related to the inception of Metaverse. Issues regarding corporate social responsibility and how the company was able to restore its damaged reputation after the whistleblower’s allegations to ensure a smooth transition have been included.
Theoretical Framework Based on Class concepts
In this section, the discussion is based on two strategies highlighted in class namely corporate social responsibility and tribal marketing. Additionally, an analysis of how the two phenomena relate to the public relations campaign of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding has been blended. The first concept to be probed is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Generally, CSR is a multifaceted discipline that defines how a company can strike equilibrium across different tenets such as employee relations, environmental conservation, proper human resource management, and community relations. It encompasses all facets of workers’ ethical awareness, philanthropic movements, and community-based charity programs.
As discussed earlier, Frances Haugen had pressed charges against the company’s breach of users’ privacy and safety. These allegations imply that, at one point, Facebook was insensitive to customers’ welfare and primarily focused on profit maximization. When such scenarios occur, the corporate social responsibility of the firm to the public is violated. The negative impacts of Facebook’s content on the mental health of its users signify that the company had become unethical and hence irresponsible by neglecting the safety of its minority users.
The CEO had to act promptly to adopt one of Benoit’s image restoration strategies that would effectively restore good public relations quickly enough while ensuring that the rebranding initiative is not distracted. One of the blueprints under CSR restoration employed by Facebook involved the use of the denial approach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg refuted the accusation that the firm had prioritized profits for the safety of its users. He clarified further that the firm makes over 95% of its revenue through displaying Google Adsense and advertisers never recommend their content to be close to other harmful or explicit material (Fernandez, 2022). Zuckerberg used the same response to counteract further allegations from Haugen that one of Facebook’s subsidiaries, Instagram, was responsible for damaging young adolescents’ mental health as revealed in internal research.
Based on the topic of discussion, it is clear that if Zuckerberg had not responded to these critical issues early enough, the rebranding process could have been greatly affected despite the aggressive promotion on Twitter. Alternatively, the process could have been a success but eventually failed to reach its target audience since the company’s reputation was already at stake. The CEO understood the intensity of the whistleblower’s charges and embraced the denial scheme to avoid the risk of making further losses, thus losing more shareholders.
His prompt actions contributed to the massive public acceptance of the new brand as it was able to restore its tarnished reputation. Active digital promotion of Metaverse through other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Whatsapp, was smoothened after the restoration of Corporate Social Responsibility (Ramesh et al., 2019). Although the accusations may be justified, there is insufficient evidence available to the public that reveals Facebook’s unethical malpractices as forwarded by the whistleblower. Thus, the transition process was insignificantly affected.
In addition, Facebook had maintained an indisputable and clear reputation in the past through adherence to corporate social responsibility initiatives. For example, on November 30th, 2017, the company launched a $50 million gift fund as cited in the Philanthropy News Digest (Kraus et al., 2022). This pool of funds gathered throughout the year and donated annually is targeted at funding community-rebuilding initiatives after pandemics and disasters. The CEO clarified that some proportion of these finds would be channeled toward suicide prevention. The gift fund was a philanthropic initiative by Facebook, confirming the fact that the company upheld corporate social responsibility.
On the other hand, tribal marketing was directly associated with the successful rebranding of Facebook through digital promotion. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as cult marketing, requires that a company should have an identity that goes beyond its area of jurisdiction as highlighted in one of the attached files. Tribal marketing involves the firm dividing its market into cohorts based on its sociocultural beliefs rather than treating it as a single unit. It is a form of market segmentation only that in this case, price is not the determinant.
From the introductory sections, it is evident that Facebook does not practice cult marketing, which made the transition via digital promotions much easier. The Silicon Valley-based firm has been experiencing an increased number of active users. There has been an increment from 1.22 billion in 2015 to 1.69 billion in 2020, with an average of 2.91 active accounts, implying that most people have more than one account (Hollensen, Kotler & Opresnik, 2022). With these statistics in mind, it is easy to explain the rapid spread and adoption of Metaverse since its inception across different cultures. The blending of global communities, irrespective of their affiliations and interests, served as an essential tool to ensure that the company incorporates a large number of users as it transits across social platforms. According to consumer tribe theory, for a public relations brand to be considered successful, it has to offer consumers a sense of belonging that matches their identity.
In the context of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding, the new platform is not limited to specific groups. The avenue offers different virtual environments for conducting meetings, concerts, and even trading. There are avatars that game lovers can use to play real-time games with one another or customize their players into digital versions of themselves (Kim, 2021). The wide range of activities that can be done on the platform played a significant role in ensuring public acceptance and hence the rapid growth of Metaverse users across the globe. However, there was a need for a further advertisement about the transition; the platform on its own offered wide interaction opportunities that were well supported by a futuristic framework.
Findings and Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is factual that Facebook as a company played a nearly negligible role in the digital promotion of its public relations campaign. The large fan base made it easier for the rebranding news to spread across the globe within a very short time. However, even though the advertisement of the new platform was very insignificant, other social media platforms that are linked to Facebook were equally important in public sensitization. The use of hashtag activism on Twitter and Instagram was the main channel that aided in spreading the news about Metaverse. This was well emphasized by the futuristic technology that was blended in the process of developing the software.
The integration of augmented and virtual reality in a dynamic online environment was satisfactory to many internet users, especially game lovers. From this term paper, business managers can learn to adopt digital promotion techniques, for instance, using hashtags to be sensitive to a wider market regarding a new product or modifications done to the good or service. The Twitter platform has been known for rapidly spreading information through hashtags when they appear as trending topics on users’ timelines. In addition, the news about the Metaverse campaign was able to break geographical boundaries quickly since Facebook, unlike other large firms, does not practice cult marketing. The abolishment of tribal product promotion ensured that information reaches a wide population at the same time. Although it was a new platform, business people and celebrities were confident enough to use it for business transactions and music concerts because they could easily get to their remote fans regardless of their location.
On the other hand, companies can use Benoit’s image restoration strategy, highlighted in one of the attached files to counteract unauthentic whistleblower allegations that could damage the firm’s digital promotion periods. It is advisable that all firms, regardless of their scale of operation, capitalize on the online marketing space to reduce operational expenses and access wider markets. The use of traditional product promotion approaches, such as salespersons, is very susceptible to unforeseen crises like pandemics which may require firms to adopt work-from-home policies.
In addition, the costs incurred in paying for allowances and the remoteness of areas with potential customers further emphasize the need for online marketing. The internet can play a significant role in informing the public about new trends; hence companies should be quick to blend it into their advertisement operations. On the same note, social media platforms, specifically Twitter, have features such as hashtags that can be used to make important business updates go viral within a short span. They should therefore form part of firms’ main advertising modalities, as illustrated in the case of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding campaign.
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