Despite several road bumps and obvious declines in average usage, Facebook continues to add millions more to its roster of active users during Q3. Amidst a lot of public backlash and criticism for “questionable practices”, it’s overall revenue generation remained stable, boosted by VR unit sales and its new Ray Ban AR wearables (Smartglasses).

Before anything else, here’s Facebook’s full Q3 2021 report. No one can say for certain whether or not things will stay the same, but with Facebook’s push towards becoming a ‘Metaverse’ company and the subsequent efforts it has already made to further its plans, makes it likely that the platform will be able to maintain if not overtake its current momentum.

The Report

Starting things off, Facebooks adds 22 million more daily users, pushing it’s daily active users (DAUs) count to a total of 1.93 billion – that’s roughly 68% of the total number of Facebook users (2.85 billion). After being stagnant for the last 3 quarters, Facebook was able to add about a million daily actives from the US and Canada, with significant user growth mainly coming from the Asia Pacific region. It’s a small yet notable achievement, given how internal data suggests that Facebook has been struggling to add more new users, especially among younger age brackets. Facebook’s monthly active users (MAUs) has now reached 2.91 billion, a 6% YoY increase.

While it gained in terms of user-growth, it is a slight concern that it lost users in the “Rest of the World” category as that had always been a key growth driver for the platform. So while it continues to  gain new users, the momentum seems to be slowing as it heads for the 3 billion MAU threshold.

However, if you would consider its family of apps, Facebook has technically already crossed this threshold. Taking into account users from Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, the total MAUs is now up to 3.89 billion, with DAUs up to 2.81 billion. However, these would still not suffice as clear determinants of Facebook’s growth since they’re interpolated values and not treated as purely Facebook-organic data.

What’s more, even amidst waves of controversy and allegations, Facebook continues to grow. With the world’s population nearing 8 billion, and Facebook apps being banned in China which has around 1.4 billion citizens, this would mean that just Facebook alone already engages around 37% of the Earth’s entire population which, if you look at it, is a testament to the app’s amazing reach and influence.

Talking about revenue, Facebook brought in $29 billion for Q3, exactly the same as it did during the previous period. It’s worth noting that this is a respectable achievement as Apple’s ATT update has heavily impacted the entirety or raw online advertising. Facebook continuously works on new ways to offer ad partners alternative solutions.

Still, the majority of Facebook’s revenue comes from North American users, indicative of increasing opportunities and potential breakthroughs in other regions. Mentioned in the report is Facebook’s dominant US earnings as well as a distinct ‘Other Revenue’ chart. Attributed to its ‘Other Revenue’ include new VR and AR technologies, featuring their Rayban Smartglasses and horizon worlds creator environment.

The Wrap

Overall, it’s still a positive gain for the company. Despite fluctuating figures and additional turbulence stemming from the feedback of several recent controversies, Facebook continues to grow, albeit at a snail’s pace. Nevertheless, it’s determination in becoming a ‘Metaverse’ company fuels it enough to still see growth in key areas, offsetting whatever  losses it might have had.

With more investments and developments in both VR and AR, it’s highly likely that Facebook will facilitate the next stage of digital connection. Whether that’s good or not we can only leave to speculation, at least for now. What is evident is that Facebook will continue to grow, ever so slowly increasing its reach and influence.

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Sources 

https://bit.ly/3bjskIB