• Plap plap 𓁑𓂸 @lemmyf.uk
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    1 year ago

    The problem is, is that if you engage with anyone outside of the internet, they have no fucking idea what you’re talking about when you call it “X”.

    It’s so fucking stupid of a name. Even worse than Facebook changing to Meta.

    You can ask people to call it “X” all day, every day, but you can’t just change the name of your brand/product to a single letter, that people use every day for other things, and expect it to work out for you.

    • homura1650@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Facebook the product is still Facebook. The only name that changed was that of the company that owns Facebook, which makes sense as that holding company also runs other products like Instagram.

      Google made a similar move in 2015 when it created Alphabet to hold the non Google parts of Google.

      In both cases the renaming was on the coorporate side. They made no effort to loose the old trademark, and continue to operate under it today.

      The only high profile case that comes to mind that is simmilar to Twitter is when Comcast rebranded itself as Xfinity in 2010. In that case, it worked because: A) Comcasts reputation was way worse than Twitters and B) people don’t have that much of an option anyway. In the otherhand, the rebranding failed in the sense that everyone still knows them as Comcast.

      • Pinklink@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I honestly thought Comcast just bought xfinity at some point. Also fuck xfinity

        • DanTilDawn@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Xfinity was also an attempt at competing against FiOS because consumers were getting to know that FiOS = speed in the Comcast hometown. If your neighbors have FiOS and you’re just a lame-o with Comcast cable, that is no bueno. Luckily I don’t have lame-o Comcast cable, I have Xfinity, the cool sounding thing that I once again don’t understand what it is so it can be whatever they tell me it is. Which is honestly a smart move for a brand, all things considered. Things wouldn’t stay cable forever.

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I think they DID buy xfinity, then used the name because they were done wiping their ass with “comcast”. I only say this because I distinctly remember having both xfinity and comcast showing up as internet options on some old house listings.

          • vivadanang@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            xfinity wasn’t an acquisition, it was just comcast rebranding trying to separate itself from the stank of comcast. It did occur during a time of acquisitions of other cable networks, but that’s been true of comcast for 15ish years. both domains still work for customers.

            • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Ahhh, so it could’ve been a local acquisition changing their names on ads before Comcast finished the job, or maybe vice-versa somehow. Interesting.

      • mgiuca@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Largely true but as a small aside, Google is still a company (within Alphabet). Alphabet is purely a corporate structure, and all branding still has Google on it. Whereas Facebook is now only a product, Meta is the company brand with its own logo and products named directly after it (like Meta Quest).

    • visak@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      In defense of Zuckerberg – and there’s something I never thought I’d say – they changed the name of the company so that they could introduce new brands. They were not dumb enough to rebrand the successful products. It’s just now Facebook by Meta.

    • victron@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      That was totally his idea, the idea of a fucking imbecile, I bet he fired the entire PR and marketing departments, because he thinks he knows better.