History made after name change as Facebook reports fall in daily active users for the first time in 18 years

• Facebook witnessed its first quarterly decline in daily active users.
• The social media platform’s daily active users dropped from 1.93 billion to 1.929 billion.
• It also did not reach the estimated target of 1.95 billion.

Facebook’s parent company Meta reported its earnings reports for the fourth quarter ending December 2021. Zuckerberg said the company had a “solid quarter” but in terms of the user base, Facebook witnessed a big drop globally and for the first time ever.

Facebook’s daily active users dropped from 1.93 billion to 1.929 billion. According to The Verge, Facebook lost 1 million daily active users in North America which is also where it earns the most through advertising. Across other Meta apps too like Instagram, and WhatsApp user growth was “essentially flat”, the report added.

The difference in the daily user base may not seem big but it’s the first quarterly drop Facebook, CNBC confirmed. It also did not reach the target of 1.95 billion predicted by analysts, the report added. This is the first time Facebook is losing users globally ever since it launched back in 2004 and has remained one of the most popular and widely used social media platforms.

Facebook also lost the top spot to Instagram which surpassed it for the first time since 2014. Instagram topped Google Play downloads worldwide in 2021 beating Facebook, according to data from SensorTower. Reels was also one of the growth areas as Zuckerberg mentioned in the earnings report along with “commerce and virtuality.” These are also areas where the company would be investing in as it continues to build towards the metaverse.

The reason behind users leaving Facebook could be due to the platform’s several issues with misinformation, hate speech, targeted content and so on. Meta is also struggling to keep young users on Facebook as other apps like TikTok and Snapchat grab the attention of this crowd.

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