Facebook recently announced its second quarter results, revealing a remarkable milestone of surpassing three billion active users worldwide by June 30. This marks a significant 6% increase from the previous year and demonstrates four consecutive quarters of user growth.
Despite the positive growth trend, concerns were raised when the platform experienced a decline in daily active users during the last quarter of 2021, a first in Facebook’s history.
The majority of new users are from regions outside the US and Canada. It signals the possible market saturation in its home territory. Moreover, US and Canada saw a modest increase of around one million monthly active users. However, Europe experienced a decline of two million. Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world recorded approximately 25 million and 16 million new monthly active users, respectively.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, manages a family of popular apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads. Together, these apps amassed a staggering nearly 3.9 billion monthly active users by the end of June, representing the highest number ever reported for Meta’s app ecosystem.
As part of its “Year of Efficiency” initiative, Meta implemented multiple rounds of layoffs, reducing its workforce by 24%. This significant reduction is the second-largest among tech giants, trailing only behind Twitter (now called X), which laid off 80% of its employees since October.
In terms of financial performance, Meta delivered impressive results in Q2, with quarterly revenue reaching $31.9 billion, an 11% increase from the previous year. This revenue surpassed Wall Street’s expectations, which had predicted earnings of $31.1 billion, leading to a 6.84% surge in Meta’s stock price during after hours trading.
