American technology company Facebook ended 2020 on a high note. Its fourth-quarter revenue reached more than twenty-eight billion dollars thanks to the skyrocketing screen time in the past year.
According to The Verge, Facebook is up all around, with more than 1.84 billion people using its main social network at least once a day in December 2020, which is an eleven per cent year-over-year increase. As of December 31, 2020, more than 2.8 billion people check Facebook at least once a month, which is a twelve per cent jump from the year before.
Measuring the usage of its bundled family of applications which includes Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, a metric the company refers to as "family active people," the numbers are even better. More than 2.6 billion people check at least one of Facebook's apps every day, while more than 3.3 billion people check one of the apps once a month.
Facebook's 'Other' category, which includes its Portal video chat devices and Oculus virtual reality business, also fared quite well last quarter, with a 156 per cent jump in revenue to $885 million.
Last quarter included the launch of Facebook's second-generation wireless Quest headset, the Quest 2, and Portal devices have seen surging sales all year as people shifted to remote work and virtual hangouts at home.
But it's not all good news for Facebook looking ahead. As per The Verge, the company says it will "continue to face significant uncertainty as we manage through a number of cross currents in 2021" in its earnings report, signalling concerns the company won't be able to maintain the same pace of year-over-year growth as it enters the second half of 2021.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU