Zuckerberg’s plan has worked. We are officially spending less time on Facebook.
Yesterday, Zuckerberg announced that users were spending 50 million hours less, per day, on the social network. Those 50 million hours amounted to a 5 percent decline in time spent on the platform in the last quarter.
The News Feed “clean up” is going according to plan.
While users may be spending less time on Facebook, the time they are spending on it is “time well spent.” We’re seeing fewer spam posts and viral videos, and more content from our family and friends.
“2017 was a strong year for Facebook in many ways,” Zuckerberg said, in a Facebook post. “Our community continues to grow with more than 2.1 billion people now using Facebook every month and 1.4 billion people using it daily. Our business grew 47% year-over-year to $40 billion. ”
But Zuckerberg also acknowledged that 2017 was, in some ways, a challenging year the social network.
“We’ve seen abuse on our platform, including interference from nation states, the spread of news that is false, sensational and polarizing, and debate about the utility of social media,” he said. “We have a responsibility to fully understand how our services are used and to do everything we can to amplify the good and prevent harm. This is my personal challenge for 2018.”
While announcements to the changes in the News Feed algorithm may have initially caused some concern from investors, publishers and media outlets Facebook is working to assure everyone that it’s all for the best. And it’s clear Zuckerberg believes what’s good for the Facebook user is good for the whole company
“One of the most important things we do is making sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s well-being and for society overall,” Zuckerberg said.
We couldn’t agree with you more, Mark.
Do you find yourself spending less time on Facebook? Let us know in the comments below…