Meta shares plunge 20% after Facebook user numbers fall for the first time ever

[midian182]

What just happened? Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings report brought an unwelcome statistic for the company. For the first time since its inception 17 years ago, the number of global daily Facebook users declined. The news saw company shares fall as much as 24% in extended trading, wiping around $200 billion off Meta’s market value.

Facebook's earnings report shows daily users fell from 1.93 billion to 1.929 billion in the fourth quarter as the platform continues to be viewed as the 'older person's' social media site in the face of companies such as TikTok.

Facebook’s teen and young adult users are spending less time on the social network, and people are joining at older age: around 24 or 25. In October, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook was "retooling" to "make serving young adults their north star," with a renewed focus on TikTok-style videos.

"What’s unique is that TikTok is so big as a competitor already, and also continues to grow at quite a fast rate off of a very large base," said Zuckerberg in an earnings call. He went on to say, "I think overall engagement will grow [...] and that’s why we’re optimistic about the future. But there’s a lot of work to do here."

Meta's profit and revenue growth were also lower than expected due to inflation and Apple's ad-tracking privacy policy that Facebook has long complained about. "The accuracy of our ads targeting decreased which increased the cost of driving outcomes," said COO Sheryl Sandberg.

But the company still made $33.76 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 20% year-on-year, and the overall number of daily active users across all its apps grew, albeit not by much—from 2.81 billion to 2.82 billion.

Meta also revealed details of its AR and VR division (Reality Labs) for the first time, an important part of its metaverse plans. The division made a $10.2 billion loss in 2021, though Zuckerberg admitted that "This fully realized vision [metaverse] is still a ways off." He also said the company’s next VR headset will arrive this year at the "high end of the price spectrum."

Following one of its most reputation-damaging 12 months in years, Facebook was voted the worst company of 2021 in December.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93244-facebook-shares-plunge-20-after-daily-user-numbers.html

 

[Goamist]

I really hope it's the beginning of the end for them.

 

[Geralt]

I really hope it's the beginning of the end for them.

Waiting for the same thing.

 

[psycros]

I really hope it's the beginning of the end for them.

For all of them.

 

[R00sT3R]

Haven't the 'cool kids' long ago ditched Facebook (I refuse to call it Metaverse) ?

..If you're no longer attracting the youngsters and only appealing to the old farts (and anyone over 25, is an old fart to the kids) then your platform is in trouble.

 

[winjer]

Should have gone down 120%

 

[Uncle Al]

This on top of that Australian billionaire might put a little dent in their armor but until the Congress strips them and the other overblown IT companies of their unnecessary protections from legal action it simply won't get better.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

I am definitely not a Facebook fanboy, but if the “preferred” platform is now Tik-Tok, then God help us all.

 

[trparky]

Die Facebook, die.

 

[trparky]

I am definitely not a Facebook fanboy, but if the “preferred” platform is now Tik-Tok, then God help us all.

Yeah, tell me about it.

 

[waclark]

I am definitely not a Facebook fanboy, but if the “preferred” platform is now Tik-Tok, then God help us all.

No kidding. Some of the vids are interesting but there are many more that you're like, wut? And Reels are even worse. You watch them endlessly, because you can't believe that they are that bad. Some of them are so obtuse you don't even know what the creator was trying to say.

 

[waclark]

This on top of that Australian billionaire might put a little dent in their armor but until the Congress strips them and the other overblown IT companies of their unnecessary protections from legal action it simply won't get better.

Absolutely agree.

 

[ZedRM]

Hey, hey!! Finally some good news!

 

[ZedRM]

I am definitely not a Facebook fanboy, but if the “preferred” platform is now Tik-Tok, then God help us all.

Could not agree more. TikTok is a platform for morons who have the attention span of a house fly.

 

[BadThad]

Please go away FarceBook, you've caused far more problems than you're worth!

 

[Sir Sparkles]

User base dropped 0.01 out of 1.93 billion.

SELL SELL SELL!!!

XD

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Awesome news, only 80% to go. F#%kerberg is a parasite.

 

[FaTaL]

Social media is for attention *****s. I never post on FB, IG . only have accounts for ease of access to other stuff I actually use.

 

[m3diapers]

Say, fnck off to facebook! I deleted my account many years ago and have been using facebook container extension on my firefox for a while.

 

[JamesBlond]

The end has come for Scambook MhetaVerse Fakebook, the time for a change to true freedom has come and that can only be Found on Gab.com
Good bye to Fakebook, Fukerburg go away for good and dont ever come back with your shirt again

 

[terzaerian]

The fact Facebook is re-tooling to appeal to 'young adults' while the only people that still willingly use Facebook are olds, and people that are compelled to do so for work or IRL social obligations (e.g. the old-adjacent), means the bleeding is only going to get worse. I predict this means Facebook is going to start obscuring or even worse chopping off the long-tail functionalities the latter groups depend on in order to more resemble Tik-Tok and this slight loss is going to accelerate.

Good riddance.