Facebook plans to include its name in the brands of Instagram and WhatsApp social networks, which are its property since 2016 and 2012 respectively, in order to make visible its presence and the control that the company has over these digital platforms.
Mark Zuckerberg’s company plans to rename applications to ‘Facebook Instagram’ and ‘Facebook WhatsApp’ as confirmed to The Information. Until now, Facebook, the owner of these two social networks, had allowed them to have an independent brand.
The added ‘Facebook’ will appear within the applications, on the account’s home screen and on sites such as the App Store or in the Google Play store, as stated in said medium.
According to The Information, Instagram and WhatsApp employees were notified of this change recently and platform purchase contracts are being reviewed. In addition Bertie Thomson, spokesperson for Facebbok, said that “we want to be clearer with the products and services offered by Facebook.”
Facebook has suffered a series of criticisms and has been under the spotlight on numerous occasions with privacy-related controversies but these two applications, that have grown under its mandate, have not been damaged to the same extent. The integration of Facebook in the brand of Instagram and WhatsApp could improve the public image of the owner company.
Zuckerberg has also shown at the beginning of the year its intentions to unify the instant messaging services of the three applications -Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp-, an initiative that is estimated to come to light in 2020.
K. Tovar
Source: Genbeta
