Facebook said its daily active user base had recorded negative growth in the US and Canada during the fourth quarter. Overall, there were 184 million daily active users of the social site, which is just a million less than the 185 million users that the site boasted of in just the previous quarter.
Also, while the decline is too small to be really concerned of, it still is significant for Facebook considering that it happened in its most lucrative market, that of the US and Canada. Not to mention, it also is the first time that Facebook has reported a decline in daily active user count anywhere in the world.
The above, when compared to its earnings, translates to revenue of $26.76 per user for the last quarter. That it makes for a jump of 35 percent over Facebook’s revenues over the same quarter a year ago can still be considered a huge positive. The US and Canada historically has proved to be the most lucrative for Facebook, followed by a distant margin by Europe and Asia Pacific.
Interestingly, as past records have shown, a rise in user base does not always lead to a growth in revenue. Rather, as had been reported in the first quarter of 2017 itself, there was a considerable slump in revenue compared to the previous quarter though things continued on an upward swing there onwards.
Also, while it still isn’t clear what exactly went wrong for the world’s largest social site in the US and Canada, the changes introduced in the news feed is being considered one reason why many might be pissed with the site. During the last round of changes introduced in the news feed saw updates from friends and families getting precedence over viral videos. That, Facebook claims has led to people spending 50 million hours on the site less on a daily basis.
Facebook news feed to give more value to human values and interactions
Facebook meanwhile has stated the news feed is up for another round of change wherein more of local news will start to show in the near future.
