Facebook hits 3 Billion user milestone, Meta revenues surge

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https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/meta-facebook-earnings-users-metaverse

The company’s revenue for its second fiscal quarter of 2023 was just shy of $32bn, an increase of 11pc compared to the same period last year. This is the second quarter in a row that saw a revenue increase for Meta, reversing the downward spiral Meta found itself in last year.

Meanwhile, the company’s family of apps – which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and now Threads – saw an increase in users. The company’s combined apps had 3.88bn monthly active users in the latest quarter, an increase of 6pc.

Facebook managed to hit a new milestone in this quarter, surpassing 3bn monthly active users for the first time.

Speaking about the results, Zuckerberg said Meta has seen strong engagement and has “the most exciting roadmap I’ve seen in a while”. Like many big tech companies, Meta has joined the AI rush of 2023 with its recent release of Llama 2 and MusicGen.

Meta reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday and said that its Reality Labs unit, which develops virtual reality and augmented reality technologies needed to power the metaverse, logged a $3.7 billion operating loss.

The unit recorded $276 million in second-quarter sales, down from the $339 million in revenue it brought during the first quarter. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were projecting Reality Labs to record $421 million in sales and $3.5 billion in operating losses.

Meta’s Reality Labs has now lost more than $21 billion since the beginning of last year

Meta continues to lose money building the metaverse as Reality Labs records a second-quarter operating loss of $3.7 billion.

www.cnbc.com

 

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According to a letter from Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter's new rival Threads saw a significant drop in users after its launch. More than half of Threads' users stopped using the text-based app within weeks of its release. Zuckerberg also said that while the retention rate was better than expected, it was "not perfect." He considered the drop-off normal and expected retention to improve as more features like desktop access and search are added. If you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally it would be awesome if all of them or even half of them stuck around. We're not there yet.

Executives are now focused on increasing user retention on Threads. Chris Cox, Meta's chief product officer, said they are looking at "retention-driving hooks," such as displaying important Threads on Instagram, to entice users to come back. The retention challenges come despite Threads' buzzy launch and Meta's blockbuster earnings report on Wednesday, which sent shares up 8% as investors cheered the company's revenue outlook.

Zuckerberg says more than half of Threads users quit within weeks of launch

Mark Zuckerberg's letter reveals that Threads has experienced significant user decline after launch. New features like desktop access and search are expected to create "retention hooks."

www.neowin.net