Facebook attracted an additional 27 million members in the most recent quarter, and it also surpassed 3 billion monthly active users for the first time, according to Meta’s most recent performance update, demonstrating that there is still life in the big blue app.
As shown in this graph, most of Facebook’s user growth is still coming from the Asia Pacific area, where the app is steadily gaining traction in developing markets like India and Indonesia. More individuals are going online due to local connectivity improvements, which naturally leads to more logging into the app. However, growth in the EU and the US has stagnated due to mainstream adoption in these countries.
The monthly user counts reflect that largely, although, as you can see, usage of Facebook in Europe has decreased once more after showing a tiny increase in the previous quarter.
Since Facebook isn’t exactly the hippest app right now, it is only natural that interest is fading in some established markets. But even so, 3 billion monthly active users is a significant accomplishment no other program has reached.
Meta generated $32 billion in sales for the period, an 11% increase from the previous year.
While Meta is experiencing growth in emerging nations, as is the case for all social businesses, it still depends heavily on its established markets for revenue, and it will take time before these new users generate a sizable profit.
Although economic conditions change, $32 billion is still a good outcome. This highlights Meta’s continued strength and endurance in line with the most recent changes in the ad market.
According to Meta’s report, the cost of ads per unit decreased by 16% in the second quarter. However, the number of ad impressions served across Meta’s platforms increased by 34% compared to the previous year. Despite concerns that more ads could harm the user experience, Meta is exploring new ad options and placements. Despite this, overall usage statistics have remained consistent.
And this is before you consider Threads’ potential as an advertising platform, which has yet to be planned but may happen soon.
Its VR/AR branch, Reality Labs, continues to drag down its results in terms of costs; it reported a $3.7 billion loss for the quarter, which is roughly in line with how it has performed over the previous year.
Sales of Meta’s VR headsets decreased once more during the quarter, but that may change later this year when its Quest 3 devices are released, which provide cutting-edge connectivity and control for its top-tier experiences.
As Meta looks for more ways to bring people into its entirely digital plane, which may one day be how we all connect and interact, you can anticipate that investment to keep climbing. VR is still an unclear component but a crucial aspect of Meta’s metaverse vision.
To surpass last year’s $14 billion loss in VR development, Meta is presently on track to lose $15 billion on investments for the entire year.
The debut of Threads, a Twitter competitor, which attracted 100 million members rapidly and helped rekindle interest in Meta’s social products as Twitter dropouts hunt for a new outlet, has been the period’s biggest high point for the company.
In this regard, TikTok had largely stolen Meta’s thunder by dethroning Facebook and Instagram as the top apps and reorienting social media usage towards entertainment rather than friend connections. Since then, Meta has adopted similar analytic approaches to its apps to showcase the finest material from each platform rather than limiting what you see to your connections, with variable degrees of success. This put Meta into catch-up mode.
But now that Elon Musk has adjusted the program, Meta is back in style as Twitter/X users dissatisfied with the changes see Threads as a novel approach to the real-time social feed.
Given the initial enthusiasm for the app, you can be sure that Meta will be eager to increase its investment. As previously mentioned, it might create a new, sizable ad revenue stream for the firm, placing it back on top of the social network heap.
Meta has a chance to reclaim its throne as the undeniable leader in the social media space, with the chaos at Twitter essentially opening the door for a renaissance at the company, which had previously seemed more focused on its next stage and ongoing metaverse development. However, there are still ongoing concerns about TikTok’s long-term future in the United States.
That remains a major goal, and Meta, as already mentioned, is investing heavily in its next-level drive. But it might be capable of doing both.
That used to seem impossible, and it appeared that this change would inevitably affect Facebook and Instagram. But suppose Elon Musk’s X project fails and TikTok receives more scrutiny. In that case, Zuckerberg will again be in charge, which could result in additional advertising dollars supporting its AR/VR effort.
Its AR glasses project has been postponed, but if its apps improve, that may change. The adoption of VR technology is still low, and Apple’s impending Vision Pro release will pressure both factors.
Meta appears to be in good physical and metaphorical shape again, which could serve it well moving forward. Source