Millions of people around the world are practicing social distancing due to the novel coronavirus, The social media giant Facebook says that it has seen a massive surge in the use of its various apps in recent weeks.
In the past month, more than 3 billion internet users logged onto a Facebook service, including its central app, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp, Zuckerberg disclosed. This number constitutes roughly two-thirds of the world’s total internet users. This was a record for the platform, which reported average monthly active users of 2.60 billion in Q1.
Facebook reported its Q1 earnings Wednesday, sharing they had earned revenues of $17.74 billion during the quarter. While the company shared that usage of certain services had surged, they also disclosed that the company had seen a “significant reduction” in the demand for ads at the end of the quarter, sharing that they had seen flat year-over-year growth in the first few weeks of April.
In many of the countries that have been hit hardest by the virus formally known as COVID-19, total messaging across Facebook’s platforms has increased by more than 50% over the last month, while voice and video calling have more than doubled on Messenger and WhatsApp.
Looking specifically at Italy, one of the worst-hit countries that’s still dealing with new cases, Facebook said it’s seen up to 70% more time spent on its apps since the crisis arrived there. Instagram and Facebook Live views in Italy doubled in the space of a week, messaging increased by more than 50%, and time spent group calling (calls with three or more participants) increased by more than 1,000% over the past month. Yes, 1,000%.
