Mark Zuckerberg outlines changes to Meta's corporate values, including “Move Fast Together”, “Live in the Future”, and “Meta, Metamates, Me”

Meta. Metamates. Me. — At a virtual all-hands meeting on Tuesday, Facebook escalated its attempts …

Washington Post 2022-02-16 Elizabeth Dwoskin

Context & Ripple Effects

Meta’s new values operationalize the company identity established in its renaming from Facebook to Meta, which was presented as a way to encompass its products rather than a single social network. Related coverage also framed that rebrand as a founder-controlled bet on a future yet to be built, making internal language a consequential part of carrying the strategy into the organization.

First-order effects

Meta employees receive a new set of stated operating priorities—“Move Fast Together,” “Live in the Future,” and “Meta, Metamates, Me”—that replaces the cultural framing associated with Facebook.
Zuckerberg further ties Meta’s workforce identity to the broader Meta brand, rather than to Facebook alone.

Second-order effects

The values make cross-product coordination and future-oriented work more explicit expectations for teams working across Meta’s portfolio.
Meta’s leadership gains a shared vocabulary for setting priorities and evaluating trade-offs, narrowing the gap between the rebrand and day-to-day organizational behavior.

Third-order effects

If reinforced in management practice, Meta’s rebrand becomes more than a corporate label: it becomes an attempt to redirect the company’s action budget toward the long-horizon agenda set by founder control.
The episode reflects how founder-led platforms use internal culture, alongside public branding, to concentrate an organization around a strategic transition.

The trend: Large founder-led technology companies are increasingly treating corporate values and naming as operating tools for redirecting workforce attention during strategic shifts.

Discussion

@boztank @boztank on x
@alexeheath Fun fact: Metamates was coined by none other than Douglas Hofstadter himself after an employee cold emailed him for ideas after our rebrand. I love it! Also the saying is a reference to a Naval phrase which Instagram has used for a while “Ship, Shipmates, Self”
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
- last value, and I am not making this up: “Meta, metamates, me” A slide shows this text in bold all caps next to Zuck talking I am told Zuck said this without laughing and explained it had to do with a story about ships and shipmates
@jeffnolan Jeff Nolan on x
“move fast together” means you can only move as fast as the slowest person. https://twitter.com/...
@ihnatko Andy Ihnatko on x
I know that Zuckerberg was trying to co-opt a classic Navy credo, but still, JHFC. If you're working for a CEO that tells you “Put my $600B company, of which you own no equity stake, first. Your needs come no higher than third”...RUN. This man is deeply delusional. https://twitte…
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
Meta has done way better than Alphabet at getting people to remember the new name.
@vladsavov Vlad Savov on x
“Meta, Metamates, Me” Puts the company first, the worker last, and fills the middle with embarrassment. Perfect. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@tomcoates Tom Coates on x
I honestly don't get why companies make up words like this for their staff. Or at least I'm sure it created more unity within a subset of their employees, but I've known just as many who find them uncomfortable and embarrassing. https://twitter.com/...
@jowens510 Jeremy C. Owens on x
How many $FB employees are checking their LinkedIn messages and scheduling interviews during this all-hands? All of them, or just 95%? https://twitter.com/...
@mollyjongfast Molly Jong-Fast on x
I've seen facebooks “ long-term impact” it's not great. https://twitter.com/...
@matvelloso Mat Velloso on x
I assumed “meta mates” was already the right way to approach friends in the Australian metaverse
@seldo Laurie Voss on x
I only realized late in the day that “Meta, Metamates, Me” is an actual slogan from Facebook and not a joke. 1. How cringe but also 2. What a sinister, capitalist fever dream that phrase represents.
@ziyatong @ziyatong on x
Fckin 🍌🍌🍌 Meta's new corporate values: “One of the most important is the catchphrase “Meta, Metamates, me,” designating the order of importance by which Meta employees should rank their own interests vs. their colleagues' and the company's well-being” ht @dellcam https://twitter.…
@chetfaliszek Chet Faliszek on x
Metamates... isn't that the thing on my desk I put paper clips in? Also don't put a giant corporation ahead of yourself. That's just creepy AF. https://twitter.com/...
@accountabletech @accountabletech on x
“Don't cause genocide” did not make the list. 👎 https://twitter.com/...
@edmundgriffiths Edmund Griffiths on x
“The line is,” said the tortoise, “Prof Hofstadter only said it to troll them.” “Well, if you're sure,” said Achilles. “I'm certain,” said the tortoise. “Just think of the alternative” https://twitter.com/...
@franceshaugen Frances Haugen on x
For those of us living in the present, @Meta Facebook isn't “nicing us to death”. Facebook must recognize the damage they are causing today, not pivot to the @Meta-verse and never look back. Reminder: Facebook is the Internet for most people online today. https://gizmodo.com/...
@tim_batt Tim Batt on x
I think when Zuckerberg says it, “focus on long term impact” is less like sustainability, and more like detonating a bomb on a densely populated city. https://twitter.com/...
@hkesvani @hkesvani on x
check in on your metamates. they also have mental health https://twitter.com/...
@hkesvani @hkesvani on x
This is all web3 guy talking points. he sounds exactly like an NFT guy who does a 35 tweet thread about how the cartoon ape is actually a work of art https://twitter.com/...
@qwongsj Queenie Wong on x
Uhhhhhhh...Metamates sounds like the name of a dating app in the metaverse. https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 Ryan Metamac on x
The professor who told Facebook/Meta to call their employees “Metamates” had no idea the company actually implemented his suggestion and said he avoids all social media. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@dellcam Dell Cameron on x
[Monday] TIME Magazine: “Mark Zuckerberg is running a sweatshop in Kenya where Facebook employees are forced to watch murders, rapes, and suicides for $12 a day.” [Tuesday]: Mark: “Actually they're called Metamates now, lol”
@epicciuto Elizabeth Picciuto on x
“Metamates” sounds like something a Paleo dieter will corner you and warn you is in the food you're currently eating. https://twitter.com/...
@harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x
Once upon a time, our otherwise wise and beloved PC World CEO was perhaps a bit too insistent that we should call ourselves “the PC Worldly.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@timmaughan Tim Maughan on x
I kept wondering why this reminded me of uk government THE THICK OF IT style middle management cringe speak, and then it hit me omg NICK CLEGG https://twitter.com/...
@hsouthwellfe Hazel Southwell on x
Literally none of this means anything, it's not values. Values are things like “racism is bad” which Zuck really, for some reason, struggles to find. https://twitter.com/...
@golikehellmachi @golikehellmachi on x
fun fact: this is not actually a good way to handle internal change and rebranding https://twitter.com/...
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Busy day. Catching up. WTF. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@sheeraf Sheera Frenkel on x
We reached Douglas Hofstadter, who had no idea that Meta had taken up his suggestion! He explained that Metamates was actually his second suggestion (in a postscript). Read out NYT story for the name they passed on: https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@michaelpachter Meta Pachter on x
Fun fact: somebody is going to make Douglas Hofstadter regret the day he came up with this stupid idea https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
just smokin some meats with my metamates
@paperghost Chris Boyd on x
painty the pirate: ARE YA READY, METAMATES? https://twitter.com/...
@megpickard Meg Pickard on x
I really want metamates to be pronounced the Spanish way, like tamale or tomates. Me ta mates! However, that could lead to unintended consequences.... (image shows a Google translate screenshot which reveals that the phrase above can be translated as “KILL ME” in Spanish.) 😳 http…
@yaeleisenstat Yael Eisenstat on x
2/ As we wrote, the “tech exceptionalism” argument in part “hinges on the idea that as-yet-unrealized, perhaps-undreamed-of future innovations will more than offset any harms of today's technology.” Clearly Zuckerberg believes this. Full @NoemaMag piece: https://www.noemamag.com/…
@mmitchell_ai MMitchell on x
....does anyone else keep reading this as “Meatmates”? https://twitter.com/...
@alex @alex on x
i try to not mock company branding too much — i work for techcrunch, which sounds like a cereal joke from the Silicon Valley show — but metamates is Not Good
@alexjohnlondon Alex John London on x
I'm trying to think of the issue related to values where Mark Zuckerberg is not dead last or close to dead last when it comes to the person whose opinion I want to hear. And yet this guy's ideas will impact the lives of millions. https://twitter.com/...
@symptomatic @symptomatic on x
“Meta, metamates, me” https://twitter.com/...
@silviakillings Silvia Killingsworth on x
“Metamates”..... what can you even say? Facebook was only ever invented as a dating site, where “dating” is a very generous word
@stockjabber Edwin Dorsey on x
Facebook is changing “employees” to “Metamates” and “Newsfeed” to “feed.” Anytime a company makes a lot of trivial or meaningless changes is a 🚩🚩🚩
@hrafntho @hrafntho on x
Change in values for Meta are a positive sign, especially this greater focus on good products and long-term impact. Facebook historically followed unsustainable, short-term business practices that cause harm and cannibalize long-term revenue. Much work needed, but a solid step. h…
@buccocapital @buccocapital on x
OMG people thought Facebook was going to acquire someone today and instead Zucc just dubbed all employees MetaMates lol https://twitter.com/...
@leahmcelrath @leahmcelrath on x
It's easy to laugh at this ridiculousness, but the reality is Zuck is overseeing the destabilization of democracies around the world and the dissemination of lies contributing to the deaths of millions. No one should have that much power. https://twitter.com/...
@qwongsj Queenie Wong on x
The backstory behind why Facebook, now Meta, is calling its employees “metamates” feels like something that would be in an episode of Silicon Valley. https://twitter.com/...
@basti Bastian Lehmann on x
From Postmates to Metamates. It's all Snow Crash from here on out. 🍕 💾 Turns out software is eating the world.
@tomgara Tom Gara on x
Hofstader was uniquely suited to this task https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x
Metamates! “'Metamates' was coined by the scholar Douglas Hofstadter after an employee reached out to him for ideas.” https://twitter.com/...
@mekkaokereke @mekkaokereke on x
🤷🏿‍♂️ Much more compelling than my version: “You and your family, your dog, your neighbour, your neighbour's dog, any neighbourhood cats, various rabbits, capybaras, and other cute rodents of the country side, then the corporate entity that pays you until you quit or are fired.” …
@yaeleisenstat Yael Eisenstat on x
1/Why bother fixing things today if you can just “live in the future”? Zuckerberg's new “company values” perfectly prove @nils_gilman+my point in our recent piece: the promise of what we call “futurity at scale” is used to indemnify against today's harms. Evading accountability. …

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