Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the company’s Q2 results yesterday afternoon, highlighting strong engagement across their apps and an exciting roadmap for the future. The social media giant now boasts over 3.8 billion people using at least one of their apps every month, with Facebook alone having more than 3 billion monthly active users.
Zuckerberg expressed optimism about the company’s trajectory, particularly with the progress of Threads, Reels, Llama 2, and upcoming AI products, as well as the launch of Quest 3. He noted that the company’s focus is on retention and improving the basics before focusing on monetization.
“We’re seeing strong engagement trends across our apps,” Zuckerberg said on the earnings call. “We’ve got continued progress on Threads, Reels, Llama 2, and some ground-breaking AI products in the pipeline as well as the Quest 3 launch coming up this fall. We’re heads down executing on all of this right now, and it’s really good to see the decisions and investments that we’ve made start to play out.”
Despite the challenges of the past year, Facebook has managed to build higher quality products faster, thanks to a leaner organization and cultural changes. The company is planning to continue running as lean as possible, even as financial results have improved.
Zuckerberg also highlighted the company’s investment in AI, which is paying off across their ranking and recommendation systems, improving engagement and monetization. AI-recommended content from accounts users don’t follow is now the fastest-growing category of content on Facebook’s feed, driving a 7% increase in overall time spent on the platform.
“AI-recommended content from accounts you don’t follow is now the fastest growing category of content on Facebook’s feed,” Zuckerberg said. “Since introducing these recommendations, they’ve driven a 7% increase in overall time spent on the platform.”
The company is also building leading foundation models to support a new generation of AI products. They’ve partnered with Microsoft to open source Llama 2, the latest version of their large language model, and to make it available for both research and commercial use.
In addition to AI, Facebook remains committed to the metaverse vision. The next big thing on the Reality Labs side is the launch of their Quest 3 mixed reality headset at Connect. It’s their most powerful headset yet, with better displays and resolution, and a next-gen Qualcomm chipset with twice the graphics performance.
“The next big thing on the Reality Labs side is the launch of our Quest 3 mixed reality headset at Connect,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s our most powerful headset yet — with better displays and resolution, and next gen Qualcomm chipset with twice the graphics performance.”
The Reality Labs unit, responsible for the metaverse, lost $3.7 billion, despite taking in $276 million in revenue. In 2022, the unit responsible for the metaverse lost over $13 billion.
Meta saw revenue of $32 billion, up 11% year-over-year, with net income at $7.79 billion. Cost and expenses were up 10% however, to $22.61 billion. Meta is still making money, folks.
“To wrap up, I just want to say I’m really proud of our teams for everything we’ve accomplished so far this year,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s been a tough year in a lot of ways, but it’s also been an impactful one. I’m quite optimistic about the road ahead and thankful to you all for being on this journey with us.”
