Meta, the parent company of social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp is laying off 11,000 people, about 13% of its global workforce, as it tries to continue in business. Meta published disappointing quarterly results, with its turnover and profits falling, as well as stagnation in the number of users. However, is the social media era ending?
At the same time, Meta’s investors are now worried about the financial decision of investing more than $10 billion a year into the “metaverse” as it moves away from social media. Zuckerberg has described the metaverse as a virtual environment where you have the opportunity of immersing yourself instead of looking at a screen.
Competition from Tiktok
During the pandemic lockdown era, platforms enjoyed a financial boost because more people stayed home and had more spare time to scroll on their devices. Simultaneously, social media is constantly growing as new apps and features are being developed. For example, the social media TikTok is an increasing threat as younger users prefer video-sharing app instead of Meta platforms.
Upcoming challenges for social media
However, as the lockdowns ended and people began going outside the positive outcome of the pandemic was reversed. As revenue growth began to falter companies such as Facebook and Twitter started to lay off thousands of employees. In addition, they face the challenge of consumer awareness of their privacy and new tools to protect it. The previously mentioned makes it difficult for platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat to track their users without consent and serve them targeted ads based on their likes.
Sources:
- Horwitz, J., & Rodriguez, S. (2022, November 7). Facebook Parent Meta Is Preparing to Notify Employees of Large-Scale Layoffs This Week. WSJ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/meta-is-preparing-to-notify-employees-of-large-scale-layoffs-this-week-11667767794
- The Associated Press. (2022, November 10). Facebook parent Meta laying off 11,000 employees amid faltering evenue. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/9264440/meta-layoffs-facebook/
- Allyn, B., & Yang, M. (2022, November 9). Facebook parent company Meta sheds 11,000 jobs in latest sign of tech slowdown. NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/1134139800/facebook-layoffs-instagram-meta
One Response
What an interesting blog!