Technology isn’t just for geeks anymore. It effects everything we do. Like Facebook, which has 1.1 billion monthly?users, up from approximately 900,000 monthly users in early 2012. Let’s see and contrast other numbers.
Facebook just posted it’s earnings for Q1 2013. They made 1.46 billion dollars in revenue, up 38% from 12 months earlier. This even exceeded Wall St. standards. Despite these expectations being beaten, stocks are only up slightly. Ad revenue was up 41% from the year before. They’re even stepping up their mobile game. Mobile revenues are up 23%. Their next venture, Parse, is a mobile development platform. It was purchased by FB at 85 million dollars, so they might or might not profit off it any time soon. App install ads are expected to be another of FB’s money makers.
So how do I process all this? At least Facebook is going in the right direction, at least on paper. Look at the kind of quarter, or year, Apple has had. One thing that strikes me: while monthly, daily and mobile users are growing, year-over-year users have decreased. Should Facebook be alarmed? I think constant and experienced users are great, especially for new ventures like Parse and these app install ads. Then again, they’re getting enough new users to sell these ventures. Maybe Facebook can do a better job holding users, and these ventures can help that. Will new FB users trust the social media site enough to use Parse and the app install ads?