The current pandemic has tied many people in their homes; no social gatherings, no vacations, and limited numbers working in the offices. However, the bright side of the pandemic is that it has impacted the growth of the social network as people are now holding virtual meetings using their smartphones and laptops to interact with their colleagues. At least the economy is moving since many business people have now learned how to conduct their transactions through different social platforms.
While all these seem to be a mere portion of a moving economy, various social media companies are smiling their ways to the banks with the increased number of users. Talking about Facebook, the statement made by Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, on Wednesday, shows that Facebook had a fruitful first quarter of 2021 after connecting millions of people and businesses. This is after recording 2.85 billion monthly active users (MAUs), which is a 10% increase compared to the same month last year. The daily active users have also hit an average of 1.88 billion, which is an 8% increase.
Facebook has also recorded a revenue of $26.1 billion in the first quarter of 2021, which marks an increase of 48% compared to the same period last year. The net income has also doubled from $4.9 billion in March 2020 to $9.5 billion this year.
What could be the secret behind these increments?
According to the CEO, the company has aggressively invested in new and meaningful opportunities over years and is determined to expand its roots to areas like augmented and virtual reality, commerce, and the content creation sectors. This has seen its shares exceeding seven percent in extended trading and 1.2 percent in closed-up trading.
Averagely, the annual family daily active people (DAP) increased by 15% to 2.72 billion in March 2021 while the family monthly active people (MAP) rose to 3.45 billion. The company now has 60,654 employees, which is an annual increase of 26%.
On its statement, Facebook records a growing advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2021, influenced by a 30% annual increase in the average price per ad and a 12% increase in ads delivered. Furthermore, it expects the revenue growth to remain stable or accelerate in the second quarter of 2021, which should be higher than what was recorded in the second quarter of 2020. The total annual expenses are also on the verge of increasing to the range of $70-73 billion from the estimated $68-73 billion range.
(Editor: Richard Oyamo)