Facebook revealed its fourth-quarter results yesterday, and the figures aren't particularly laudable. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the company experienced a steep decline in people using their network within Canada and the U.S., as the amount of time spent on the website/application dwindled by a whopping 50 hours a day, the first time this has occurred in Facebook's history.
While Zuckerberg notes how 2017 was a strong year for the company, they were subject to some crushing data that will now have to be dealt with promptly. Speaking to Business Insider, the Facebook CEO reveals "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."
Zuckerberg admits that the company is actively working to abolish misinformation and problematic content that has significantly negatively impacted a user's ability to spend meaningful time on the website.
However, the billionaire CEO stresses that "helping people connect is more important than maximizing the time they spend on Facebook."
While Canadian and American users may not be particularly enthralled by Facebook in lieu of other forms of social media, globally, the company is doing just fine. Worldwide, daily active users rose from 1.37 billion to 1.4 billion in the third quarter.
