Facebook (the Company) Changed Its Logo to Differentiate It From Facebook (the Social Media Site)

As Facebook has come to experience life as an adolescent, consumers have found far less to “like” about Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild, which has found itself fending off controversies for a mini eternity. Aiming to update its company branding “to be clearer about the products that come from Facebook,” the social media/social networking service unveiled a new logo yesterday so as to keep its symbol separate from its app’s signifier.

Facebook has a new logo in accommodation of its family of apps (Instagram, WhatsApp & Messenger) pic.twitter.com/sLiBUuuLAG

— Lind' OKUHLE🌸 (@mc_tldo) November 5, 2019

To many users, Facebook has become a dinosaur, and even among those who still consider it a great forum to communicate, it is not universally known that the company is behind far more than its eponymous app, as Forbes points out. Since its inception, for better or worse, Facebook has shared its name with its most notable application, but because the overall perception of the 15-year-old enterprise has declined, the folks who write the checks (and cash much larger ones) believed they needed a change. While some could say the alteration simply shows a need for companies to have constant conversations surrounding their reputation in their respective market(s), others will certainly be quick to engage in a beat-them-while-they’re-down mindset and critique Facebook for the end result of what Forbes dubbed “extensive testing” to issue a new logo.

Business-speak to some and an intelligent explanation to others, the reasoning behind the move, which Chief Marketing Officer Antonio Lucio described as “…a way to better communicate our ownership structure to the people and businesses who use our services to connect, share, build community and grow their audiences,” will not, to many, have yielded an attractive logo. However, if it fails to impress someone visually, it might have more of a psychological and emotional effect on the person, with Forbes noting that younger generations like being cognizant of who is issuing their preferred products.

We have looked at that concept numerous times through the ubiquitous presence of branded merchandise available to consumers. With something intangible like apps, though, is the pull to make our connections to brands so intense that Facebook believes that this modification will serve much purpose? Evidently so, it seems, because Lucio and his peers are seeing their employer as a massive mover and shaker in the commerce world, and think their business can benefit from a new look. With respect to that appearance, well, the Facebook company logo will not likely steal any thunder from, say, the Mona Lisa, as it lacks “an official color” and “will assume the coloring of that particular brand,” Lucio said of its connection to the Facebook family of apps.

Possessive of what Forbes calls “an authoritative yet subdued and airy look,” the logo, which the company will use on a new website and in products and marketing materials, could eventually come to make waves in the design world. For now, though, we expect for social media users to be their usual selves and poke fun of its lack of intricacy.

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