Facebook Loses Daily Active Users for First Time

Facebook has seen a drop in its daily active users (DAU) for the first time in 18 years.

Losing Relevance

For the first time since the social network launched in 2004, Facebook has seen a drop in daily active users. The latest quarterly reports from parent company Meta revealed a drop in figures by half a million to 1.93 billion. 

The decline was greatest in Africa and Latin America. However, the number of users who log in every day also significantly waned in North America, where 71% of US citizens use Facebook.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg believes that the fall in number is at least partly down to users leaving for rivals.

“People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time, and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly,” Zuckerberg said in a reaction on Wednesday.

“This is why our focus on Reels is so important over the long term,” he added.

Plummeting Stocks

Following the release of the quarterly earnings report, Meta’s stocks sank by more than 20% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. 

The company saw its shares fall by 22.6% to $249.90 in extended trading. The plummeting shares wiped out roughly $200 billion off Meta’s market value.

Falling figures suggest that Facebook’s Meta rebrand and its decision to focus on the metaverse has not convinced users and investors alike. Reality Labs, its division that works on VR headsets and AR tech, accounted for much of the decline in profits.