Tag: Social Media

Posted on

Facebook turns 20 years old

Facebook at 20

Facebook, the social media giant that connects billions of people around the world, celebrated its 20th anniversary on February 4, 2024.

Founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard students in 2004, Facebook has grown from a college network to a global phenomenon, with over 3 billion monthly users and counting.

Facebook has also changed the way we communicate, share, and connect with each other online, enabling us to keep in touch with friends and family, discover new content and communities, and express ourselves freely.

Controversy

However, Facebook has also faced many controversies and challenges over the years, such as privacy issues, misinformation, child safety, and political scrutiny. Facebook has been accused of violating user data, spreading fake news and hate speech, enabling cyberbullying and online abuse, and influencing elections and public opinion.

How ‘the’ facebook looked 20 years ago

Facebook has also faced competition from other platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, and X, as well as regulatory pressure from governments and activists.

Evolving

As Facebook turns 20, it is still evolving and expanding under its parent company Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta’s vision is to create a metaverse, a virtual reality where people can interact and experience immersive digital worlds. Meta also aims to invest in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing, as well as social good initiatives, such as connectivity, education, and health.

Facebook’s future is uncertain, but it is undeniable that it has shaped the history and culture of the internet and the world, for good and bad.

See BIG tech results here as Meta share price gains 20% after positive earnings impress Wall Street.

Mark Zuckerberg is currently the third richest person in the work coming with a wealth of $161 billion. Not a bad income for 20 years’ work.

Whatever happened to myspace?

Meta recent share price 1 year chart

Meta recent share price 1 year chart
Posted on

Threads users drop-off by more than a half

Threads

Threads Open Social Network

Threads is a new app, owned by Meta (Facebook), and built by the Instagram team, for sharing public conversations akin to Twitter. You log in using your Instagram account and posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos with a 5 minute limit. Threads is Meta’s first app envisioned to be compatible with an open social networking protocol

Threads is seen by many as a direct competitor to Twitter, the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk. Threads has been setting records for user growth since its launch on July 5, 2023, with politicians, celebrities, news creators and users joining the platform. Threads surpassed 100 million user ‘sign-ups’ within five days of launch according to information from Meta.

Projected to create revenue of $8 billion by 2025

Threads is projected to contribute a staggering $8 billion to Meta’s annual revenue by 2025. The report further highlights that Threads has already garnered 1 million sign-ups and is on track to reach an impressive milestone of 1 billion users in the near future.

User drop-off to be expected?

However, some recent news reports suggest that Threads has encountered challenges in retaining its users and competing with Twitter. Threads ‘daily active users’ is reporteded to have fallen from 49 million two days after its launch, to 23.6 million users about three weeks later in July 2023, according to reports. The app’s average usage time also fell from 21 minutes to 6 minutes over the same timeframe.