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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsMark Zuckerberg introduced “Meta, Metamates, Me” at a company-wide meeting on February 15, 2022, according to contemporaneous reporting. The phrase made “Metamates” the new informal term for Meta employees and described an intended order of priorities: the company first, colleagues or the team second, and the individual third.
What Zuckerberg announced
The announcement was part of an update to Meta’s internal values, not simply a new nickname. Reports on the February 2022 all-hands meeting described “Meta, Metamates, Me” alongside values including living in the future and communicating directly while remaining respectful.
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The wording was presented as an aspiration for how employees should approach their work. Available reporting does not describe it as a formal employment rule, disciplinary policy or measurable requirement.
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What each word means
| Phrase | Reported priority |
|---|---|
| Meta | The company and its broader mission come first. |
| Metamates | Colleagues, teammates and shared work come next. |
| Me | The individual comes after the company and team. |
Why the language appeared in 2022
The terminology followed Facebook’s 2021 corporate rebrand to Meta. In its October 2021 announcement, the company said Meta would bring its apps and technologies together under one corporate name while it pursued more immersive forms of social technology.
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In his 2021 Founder’s Letter, Zuckerberg framed the strategic shift as “metaverse-first, not Facebook-first.” He also explained “meta” as meaning “beyond.” The “Metamates” vocabulary therefore arrived as part of a larger effort to establish a company identity distinct from the Facebook brand, rather than as an isolated workplace joke.
Where “Metamates” reportedly came from
The Washington Post reported that scholar Douglas Hofstadter coined the term after an employee asked him for suggestions. Contemporary coverage also said that “Meta, Metamates, Me” echoed the naval expression “ship, shipmate, self,” which places the vessel before fellow sailors and oneself.
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Those details should be treated as reported origins. The original internal presentation and a direct statement from Hofstadter were not available in the material documenting the announcement, so they do not establish a fully verified primary-source account of who created the wording.
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No evidence in the contemporaneous accounts indicates that employees were contractually required to follow a ranked decision procedure. The phrase was described as a set of values or a cultural principle. In practice, it communicates an expectation that employees should consider the company’s mission and their team’s needs before personal preference, but it does not specify how every workplace conflict must be resolved.
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What the phrase did—and did not—refer to
“Metamates” referred to Meta employees in the context of the February 2022 values announcement. It was not the name of a new product, service or legal employment category.
Meta’s later workforce reduction was a separate event. On November 9, 2022, Zuckerberg said the company would reduce its workforce by about 13 percent and eliminate more than 11,000 jobs. That announcement came months after the values update and should not be presented as part of the origin or meaning of “Metamates.”
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Why the phrase attracted attention
The wording compressed a corporate rebrand, a workplace-culture message and a reference to an older naval maxim into three short words. It also made the new Meta identity visible inside the company: employees were no longer framed around Facebook’s name but around the renamed organization and its stated metaverse focus.
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At the same time, the phrase’s meaning depends on interpretation. The company’s reports describe the intended sequence of priorities, while the Hofstadter and naval connections come from external reporting rather than a publicly available original slide or memo.
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The Bottom Line
“Metamates” was Meta’s 2022 term for employees, introduced with the values phrase “Meta, Metamates, Me.” It signaled company-first, team-second, self-third priorities during the transition from Facebook to Meta; it was presented as an internal value, not a formal employment rule.
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