Benefit from the pandemic 

According to its first quarter business report, Facebook's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 of the world's largest social network was $28.07 billion, exceeding the forecast of $26.44 billion by financial firm Refinitiv. Compared to the same period last year, Facebook's revenue increased by 33%. 

According to the report, daily active users on Facebook reached 1.84 billion, monthly active users reached 2.8 billion and average revenue per user was $10.14. 

Facebook's monthly user numbers have increased continuously over the past quarters 

Facebook's one-user profit also soars to record high 

Facebook said that the company benefited in 2020 thanks to its shift to online during the pandemic. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg also warned the trend could be adjusted or reversed in the future. 

Publicity against Apple 

Another warning from Facebook boss is that Apple's privacy changes on the iOS 14 operating system could affect the company's business as soon as the first quarter of this year. 

Accordingly, the updated version of the iOS 14 operating system will be added by Apple with a layer of protection that forces developers to get permission from users before they can be tracked across apps and websites. 

If users refuse, the ability to collect information that Facebook can use to personalize ads will become extremely difficult. 

Facebook considers Apple as the biggest rival today 

Apple said that after updating iOS 14 next year, users will be able to easily see who is following them and make changes if necessary. Facebook insists that the iOS 14 ad option feature is a "blow" to small and medium-sized businesses. 

Dan Levy, Facebook's vice president of advertising and business products, said Facebook "fundamentally disagrees" with Apple's view that "personalized advertising is inherently inconsistent with privacy." 

Facebook and others in the industry "can still protect privacy while using personalized data," he said. 

Levy stressed that Apple's move was "anti-competitive" and that the company was just trying to "go back 20 to 30 years," about the time before the ads were personalized. 

Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly commented: "When a service is free, you're not a customer. You are the product". This statement is aimed directly at the world's leading free services such as Google and Facebook. 

Speaking after the release of the business report, Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook considers Apple one of its biggest competitors. 

"Apple can say that they are doing this to help people, but this move is clearly in their interests. People need to understand because we and others will fight this attack in the near future," said Facebook's billionaire CEO. 

Monthly users globally hit 3.30 billion 

In the US and Canada, the number of Facebook users has fallen to just 195 million daily users from 196 million a quarter ago. This is the second consecutive quarter the social network has lost users in the US and Canada. 

Meanwhile, daily Facebook users in Europe have increased to 308 million, compared to the previous rule of 305 million. 

Globally, Facebook has 3.30 billion monthly users up from 3.21 billion in the previous quarter. This is the total number of users on the main Facebook app with Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. 

In its business report, Facebook's "Other" revenue reached $885 million in the fourth quarter, up 156% from last year. This accounted for more than 3% of Facebook's revenue in the quarter. 

This money Facebook earns thanks to the sale of Oculus virtual reality headsets and Portal video chat devices. Sales of these devices increased as people got stuck at home because of the pandemic and sought ways to entertain and stay in touch with relatives. 

In addition to warning of the risks to come, Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned some of the changes that the social network made after a number of events in American politics. Accordingly, Facebook is considering reducing the political content that users see on News Feeds. The announcement comes after the Capitol's defeat on January 6. 

"One of the most feedback we get from the community is that people don't want to see too much political news and conflict, which is taking up too much user experience," Zuckerberg said. 

Source: cafebiz.vn