Facebook’s North American user numbers dip, but revenues soar to near $13bn
Despite what Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg described as a “challenging year” its revenue for the final quarter of 2017 grew 47% year-over-year to hit the $12.78bn mark during the fourth quarter. However, a rare instance of a daily active user (DAU) decline in North America sullied what was yet another positive results call.
Facebook's DAUs grew across the globe, but declined slightly in North America / Facebook
During the company’s subsequent earnings call, its leadership were also keen to point out their positive outlook over how its recent News Feed changes will boost engagement with ads as users will likely "care more about ads adjacent to the content they care about", although Zuckerberg did concede that recent changes did result in a loss of 50 million hours of engagement time every day.
Overall, Facebook’s earnings remain healthy (see chart below) and its global DAU rose to 1.4 billion during the final quarter of 2017, but it was in its North American base that numbers fell from 185 million in the previous quarter to 184 million (see graph above). Revenue from mobile advertising generated 89% of its revenue during the reporting period with its monthly active user base topping 2.13 billion during the period.
“In 2018, we're focused on making sure Facebook isn't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being and for society. We're doing this by encouraging meaningful connections between people rather than passive consumption of content. Already last quarter, we made changes to show fewer viral videos to make sure people's time is well spent,” added Zuckerberg.
“By focusing on meaningful connections, our community and business will be stronger over the long term."