Facebook's user numbers shrunk for the first time in its history

• Facebook lost roughly 1 million daily active users between Q3 and Q4 of 2021, according to its earnings report.
• This is the first time it has ever reported a decline in user numbers.

Facebook's user numbers declined for the first time in its history last quarter.

Facebook's parent company Meta reported daily active user numbers of 1.929 billion over the last three months of 2021. In Q3 of 2021, it reported an average of 1.93 billion active users. This means it lost roughly 1 million users over that period.

Facebook stock plunged 22% in premarket trading following its Q4 earnings.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the company's earnings call that the company's social-media business is facing stiff competition.

"People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly," Zuckerberg said.

He added the company will be focusing on Reels, its short-form video feature on Instagram which closely resembles TikTok.

Meta had a tumultuous end to 2021. Whistleblower Frances Haugen testified to lawmakers in the US and abroad saying the company consistently puts profit above the safety of its users.

The company also launched a huge rebrand, changing its corporate name from Facebook to Meta and announcing it would focus on the so-called "metaverse," rather than just social media.

Meta's Q4 earnings revealed the company's metaverse business reported an operating loss of $10 billion.