Facebook users in the US and Canada are leaving the platform since the pandemic. As noted by Karissa Bell on Twitter, the surge of users the platform saw in March has slowed down with users beginning to leave.
It looks like users are still leaving Facebook despite the new features the company has put in place over the last few months. Most recently the company has got itself into Cloud Gaming which surprised many. However, given a number of other big tech companies entered the space, Facebook saw no reason not to follow them.
Facebook has also begun work on a new ‘neighbourhoods‘ feature. However, many feel that this is almost a total knock-off of popular social media platform Nextdoor.
This downturn in users from North America will be concerning for Facebook as it is its most lucrative market according to Engadget.
Facebook losing users in North America
However, it is worth noting that Facebook’s user base in the region only declined by 2 million. Down from 198 to 196 million from Q2 to Q3 in 2020.
In a press release, Facebook said that they expected this news. The company also expects this trend to continue until the end of the year.
The reason for this is the pandemic which began in North America in March time. During the lockdown period, more people flocked to social media sites as the real world shut down.
Now the world is cautiously coming out of the pandemic and looking towards the real world again people are coming off social media.
It is worth noting that the same slowdown in users base has not been reported elsewhere. Facebook has continued to grow users in its Asia and “rest of world” markets.
In other metrics, Facebook also continues to grow. In its “family of apps”, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, the number of daily active users grew to 2.54 billion in September.
It also appears that the slowdown in users has not effected revenue at all. This is up to $21.4 billion for the quarter a 22% rise year on year. This included $18billion in ad revenue despite an advertiser boycott.
In a call with analysts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his concerns about the upcoming election. He expressed worries about civil unrest on election day. He, therefore, emphasized the work his company has done to try and tackle misinformation on the platform.
All in all, things look relatively rosy for Facebook despite a turbulent year in many ways. Although they are losing a few users in North America the numbers are small and have not affected overall revenue.