The big picture: Facebook’s share value is down more than seven percent on news that daily and monthly active user counts are down slightly in the US and Canada compared to last quarter. Really, it’s much to do about nothing – a reflection of the pandemic, not a sign that people are quitting the social network.
Facebook during the third quarter of 2020 brought in $21.47 billion in revenue, topping Wall Street expectations of just $19.8 billion. This translated to earnings per share of $2.71, which was again higher than the $1.91 forecast from Refinitiv (via CNBC).
Perhaps more interesting than the financials are the user numbers.
Facebook said monthly active users (MAUs) reached 2.74 billion during the three-month period ending September 30, an increase of 12 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Drilling down deeper, we find that daily active users (DAUs) were 1.82 billion on average during the quarter. That’s also up 12 percent year-over-year.
Zooming out to include Facebook’s entire family of platforms (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp), monthly active people (MAP) was 3.21 billion at the end of the period, up 14 percent YoY. Daily active people (DAP), meanwhile, hit an average of 2.54 billion, a 15 percent increase compared to Q3 2019.
Worth mentioning is the fact that DAUs and MAUs in the US and Canada were down slightly from Q2, which Facebook said is related to the impact of the pandemic. The trend is expected to continue in the fourth quarter, with DAUs and MAUs being flat or slightly down compared to the third quarter.
Image credit: AlesiaKan, Jirapong Manustrong
