Bad times for the social media giant. On the occasion of the presentation of its financial results, the group, which must now be called Meta, presented contrasting results to say the least, which make it completely unscrew in purse.
Admittedly, Meta ends its financial year with an increase in turnover and profit compared to the previous year. Admittedly, there are still 2.82 billion people who connect every day to a service of the firm (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram or Messenger), which is a very slight increase.
But this growth seems to be on the verge of stagnating… And there is above all a much more cruel figure for Mark Zuckerberg’s company: that of daily users of Facebook, its historical service.
For the first time in its history, Facebook.com has indeed lost Internet users. As can be seen in the graph below, the social network brought together “only” 1.929 billion users in the last quarter, compared to 1.930 in the previous quarter. Never seen.
Yes, it’s a small drop, and it doesn’t concern all regions of the world. But it hits North America in particular, a key market for the company, and all the countries together in what it calls the “rest of the world” (Africa in particular, but also South America), where Facebook nevertheless has room for improvement.
David Wehner, the financial director, obviously sought to minimize this underperformance, simply evoking a few “headwinds”. In particular, he put this on the back of the pandemic, which would have accelerated growth in certain regions previously, and whose ebb may have had an impact. But he also felt that “competing services have had a negative impact, particularly among younger users”.
Among these competitors, there is above all TikTok, a service with explosive growth, particularly popular with young people. A threat that Meta is trying to thwart with services that are clearly inspired by it, such as the Reels short video format, which it has deployed on both Facebook and Instagram.
“Apps like TikTok are growing very quickly, which is why making Reels a priority is so important over the long term, as we need to ensure that our apps offer the best services to young adults,” commented Mark Zuckerberg during the conference. aimed at investors.
The metaverse as a lifeline?
Will this be enough to raise the bar? Nothing is less sure. This is probably why Facebook has changed its name and that beyond developing its historical services, it is now seeking to project itself into the future.
But by Mark Zuckerberg’s own admission, the metaverse he dreams of is still far, very far, from being a reality.
“While our direction is clear, the path ahead is not yet fully defined,” he conceded during the conference.
However, the group is moving forward, step by step, towards more “immersive” services. Meta has just launched its 3D avatars for its sites in the United States and plans to deploy its Horizon virtual world, currently available via Quest headsets, on Android and iOS this year.
It also intends to take advantage of its gigantic user base to quickly take off these new services.
“Although the most immersive experiences will be in virtual reality, you will also be able to access these worlds through your Facebook or Instagram application. This will allow us to design richer social experiences, where you can interact with your friends whether you are in VR or not,” Zuckerberg detailed.
The metaverse, a way for Facebook to escape, perhaps, from the old-fashionedness that awaits it?