Meta’s (Facebook’s) Mission Statement & Vision Statement (An Analysis)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly named Facebook, Inc.) satisfies its corporate mission statement toward fulfilling its corporate vision statement, while promoting innovative changes in the online space. Operating some of the most popular online social media services, such as Facebook and Instagram, Meta depends on advertising revenues and online operations, placing the business in competition with large online technology firms. The company’s current and possible future competitors include Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Twitter, Snap (Snapchat), Apple, and Microsoft. In this context, Meta’s corporate mission statement and corporate vision statement direct the business toward success despite the strong force of competition. This strong force, shown in the Porter’s Five Forces analysis of Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook Inc.), requires that the company’s corporate mission and vision statements address the current business environment, expanding from Facebook’s corporate mission statement and corporate vision statement, to the new metaverse-focused corporate vision and mission statements of Meta Platforms, Inc.

Considering Meta’s strategic shift to the metaverse, encompassing Facebook’s social media and related services, the current corporate vision statement accurately represents the business and its operations. On the other hand, the corporate mission statement remains the same despite such shift to the metaverse. This condition indicates that the corporate mission continues to be relevant to Meta Platforms Inc.’s (Facebook Inc.’s) current operations and management approaches, and applies to the metaverse, as well.

Corporate Mission Statement

Meta’s (Facebook’s) corporate mission is “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” This mission statement was implemented amid data privacy and security issues when the business, operating as Facebook Inc., transacted with Cambridge Analytica. The previous corporate mission was “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” The following points are in Meta Platforms Inc.’s current corporate mission statement:

1. Give people the power
2. Build community
3. Bring the world closer together

Meta’s mission statement reflects business focus on social networking, depicting operations when the company was still known as Facebook. This corporate mission statement has been in use before the corporation changed its name from Facebook to Meta Platforms Inc. The first point shows the business purpose of providing “power,” referring to technologies that enable users to create social connections. The second point of the corporate mission indicates Meta’s aim of enabling users to join and develop communities. Considering information technology, such communities are online or virtual, and represent or augment communities in the physical or real world, similar to communities that have long existed on Facebook. The third point of Meta’s mission statement relates to the second point, and shows the strategic goal of capturing the global market through operations in the metaverse that the corporate vision statement refers to.

The mission statement’s emphasis on facilitating social connections supports Meta’s (Facebook’s) corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management endeavors. Users and communities are stakeholders in the social media business. Also, the company’s success in achieving its corporate mission depends on the social and technological trends outlined in the PESTEL/PESTLE analysis of Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook, Inc.). For example, sociocultural acceptance and adoption of the metaverse determines the achievement of the company’s corporate mission statement through services involving virtual reality and augmented reality. Moreover, Meta’s (Facebook’s) generic strategy for competitive advantage and strategies for intensive growth affect the fulfillment of the corporate mission statement. These strategies influence how the company’s websites and mobile apps reach target customers and keep them engaged in the metaverse.

Corporate Vision Statement

Meta’s (Facebook’s) corporate vision is “to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.” This corporate vision is a considerable change compared to the company’s vision statement when it was still doing business as Facebook: “People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.” The following are the main points of Meta Platforms Inc.’s corporate vision statement:

1. Bring the metaverse to life
2. Help people connect and find communities
3. Help people grow businesses

The first point of the vision statement emphasizes that Meta’s business encompasses current and future operations in addition to social media and social networking services like Facebook and Instagram, and instant messaging services like Messenger and WhatsApp. In terms of bringing the metaverse to life, the corporate vision reflects the strategic objective of having the technological foundation for users’ positive experiences. On the other hand, the second point of Meta Platforms Inc.’s corporate vision statement specifies facilitating interpersonal connections as a business purpose. Similarly, the third point depicts the company’s Internet services, such as Facebook Marketplace, as a facilitator of business growth.

The first point of the corporate vision statement is achievable through the business strengths discussed in the SWOT analysis of Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook, Inc.). For example, the Facebook brand’s worldwide popularity is a strength that enables the business to attract and retain users of the company’s metaverse products. Also, the vision statement’s point on creating the metaverse implies business expansion, which requires possible changes in the way the company operates, as reflected in Meta’s (Facebook’s) corporate organizational structure. The second and third points of the corporate vision statement imply strategies for successfully persuading people and organizations to keep using the company’s online services. In this regard, the corporate vision requires that Meta’s (Facebook’s) marketing mix (4Ps) effectively target users and businesses to keep them using the metaverse.

Evaluation & Recommendations – Meta’s (Facebook’s) Corporate Mission & Corporate Vision

Corporate Mission Statement. Considering the technological and social characteristics of the metaverse, Meta Platforms, Inc.’s corporate mission statement is relevant to the company’s current business operations and industry environment. The mission statement is about helping people build connections, such as through Facebook’s social networking combined with virtual reality. This statement provides an appropriate mission that directs Meta’s strategies based on a relevant unified business purpose. However, the same corporate mission statement has been in use when the company was still known as Facebook. Thus, an applicable recommendation for improving Meta’s corporate mission statement is to expand the statement to indicate current goals in bringing the metaverse to fruition, including Facebook’s original corporate mission, as well as other goals or objectives directly linked to business possibilities in the metaverse. This improvement can make Meta’s corporate mission statement more aligned with the corporate vision statement.

Corporate Vision Statement. Meta Platforms, Inc.’s current vision statement is appropriate and applicable to the business and its strategic plans for developing the metaverse. This corporate vision sees Meta as the primary force behind the establishment of an expansive metaverse. Also, the corporate vision statement directly relates to the mission statement in terms of the business goal of facilitating connections among users through services including WhatsApp and Facebook. Furthermore, the current vision statement applies to future business scenarios, considering the ongoing development of the metaverse. This future applicability makes the vision statement a long-term guide for Meta’s strategic development. A possible improvement to the corporate vision statement is in the aspect of describing the kinds of business operations used to address online users’ needs. For example, a recommendation is to make Meta’s vision statement describe the operations of social media and social networking (Facebook, Instagram), instant messaging (WhatsApp, Messenger), and virtual reality and augmented reality (Oculus VR) as ways to bring the metaverse to life and to help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses.

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