Social media roasts Mark Zuckerberg's 'cringe' new name for Meta employees

Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg may be one of the richest men alive - but he's never exactly been cool.

Most recently, Zuckerberg has left the internet cringing after he came up with a nickname for Meta employees that for many was just a bit lame.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Zuckerberg spoke more about what changing his brand's name from Facebook to 'Meta' meant for the company, emphasizing that the switch represents a "flag in the ground with Meta as our new name and vision for the future."

"We wrote our current company values back in 2007. They have been remarkably durable, but a lot has changed during this time. We are now a distributed company. We have a global community and wide reaching impact. And we're now a metaverse company, building the future of social connection," he wrote.

He went on to outline Meta's new company values - the last of which was a nod to his employees titled "Meta, Metamates, Me."

"Meta, Metamates, Me is about being good stewards of our company and mission. It's about the sense of responsibility we have for our collective success and to each other as teammates. It's about taking care of our company and each other," he wrote.

Any good intentions Zuckerberg may have had in introducing the new values have quickly been lost on audiences who instead took the opportunity to roast the "cringe" new nickname "metamates".

"'Metamates' is so so cringe," one person tweeted.

"CRINGE ALERT," another labeled the announcement.

Meanwhile, others have been quick to point out that the adage - which riffs on an old Naval phrase "ship, shipmates, self" - is not only lame but also a little bit sinister.

"Everybody is laughing about the 'metamates' thing, but I had no idea of the existence of the saying 'ship, shipmates, self'. Meaning out on the sea, the survival of the ship is more important than you or your shipmates," one person wrote.

"By repurposing the Navy adage “ship, shipmates, self,' as 'Meta, Metamates, Me' Zuckerberg just signalled to all 72,000 Meta employees that their life will be in danger if Meta sinks. What a play!" tweeted another.

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