Facebook Q4, 2017 results: Zuckerberg says they will show fewer viral videos, reduce time spent

Facebook announced its fourth quarter results for 2017 and it looks like the focus will shift to making sure people have more meaningful connections, and reduce focus on viral videos.

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Facebook Q4, 2017 results: User base continues to grow, but Zuckerberg indicates change in strategy for Facebook.. (Image Source: Reuters)

Facebook announced its fourth quarter results for 2017 and it looks like the focus will shift to making sure people have more meaningful connections, and reduce focus on viral videos, according to the statement of CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook’s daily active user base now stands at 1.40 billion on average for December 2017, which was an increase of 14 per cent year-over-year, while the monthly active users (MAUs) are at 2.13 billion for December 31, 2017. The MAUs also increased by 14 per cent year-on-year.

But it looks like 2018 for Facebook will not just about growing the user base and advertising revenue. “Our focus in 2018 is making sure Facebook isn’t just fun, 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,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that was also shared on his personal Facebook page.

Zuckerberg also pointed out that Facebook has made changes to its algorithm in Q4 to show “fewer viral videos” in an effort to make sure that people’s time is well spent. “In total, we made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day. By focusing on meaningful connections, our community and business will be stronger over the long term,” he added.

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Facebook has faced its share of criticism for all of 2016 and 2017 over the issue of fake news and its role in the US elections. In fact, Facebook has also announced it will now prioritise content shared by a user, rather than publisher links on the News Feed. The algorithm changes have already come into place. Facebook, Twitter and Google are also facing an investigation by US Senate Judiciary Committee over Russian links and ads on these networks and whether they adversely impacted US elections.

While Facebook struggles with the fake news problem, mobile advertising revenues continue to grow for the company. According to Facebook results, mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 89% of advertising revenue for Q4 2017, up from approximately 84 per cent of advertising revenue in the Q4, 2016. Total revenue for Facebook rose by 47 per cent to $12.97 billion.

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