It’s crazy to say because Facebook has a reputation as a dying platform. But Meta came out with their Q4 earnings and the numbers show Facebook is thriving after 20 years.
There are more than 3 Billion monthly active users now. That doesn’t even include Instagram and the rest of the family of apps (that would put it at 4 Billion). Facebook even adds another million users every quarter to the US and Canada, even though it’s long felt like growth was tapped out there.
Most amazingly, the measure of stickiness just hit its highest number ever. The percentage of Daily to Monthly Active Users is now at 69 Percent. In other words, of the 3 Billion monthly active users, about 69% are on the app on any given day.
That number is actually brought down by Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world (though it’s increasing every quarter there, too). In Europe, the US, and Canada, it’s at 75 percent.
I’ve followed this number for years as a way of tracking the health of the platform. I’ve long assumed that growth would eventually stall, but the warning sign would be once people stopped returning as regularly as they once did. It was inevitable.
It seemed like it would never get over 66%, but here we are. Not slowing down.
I know. Facebook isn’t cool anymore. It’s become a utility to the point it’s like saying you’re a fan of your electric company.
But no matter how much people want it to fail, Facebook isn’t going anywhere. It’s not just 3 billion boomers either. After 20 years, Facebook hasn’t only maintained the biggest social platform status, it’s still growing.
If you’re an advertiser, this is relevant because Facebook is often an afterthought now when considering where to run ads. “My audienceThis is the group of people who can potentially see your ads. You help influence this by adjusting age, gender, location, detailed targeting (interests and behaviors), custom audiences, and more. More isn’t there anymore” because the assumption is that Facebook is dying. And here we are.
You can stop saying Facebook’s going the way of Myspace any time now. Any time.
What do you think?
