Skip to main content

Facebook refutes claims it’s losing users

Mark Zuckerberg

In a statement distributed via email, Facebook refuted claims made by Inside Facebook that the service was losing traffic in North America. Facebook says it is “very pleased” with its growth, and notes that more than half of its active users check in with the site every day—which would make it one of the “stickiest” and advertiser-appealing services on the Internet.

“From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions,”
the company wrote in its statement. “Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn’t designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook.”

Related Videos

However, since Facebook does not publish aggregate data regarding its user base, analysts and Facebook-watchers have taken to relying on information from Facebook’s advertising tools to indirectly judge the site’s growth.

Other media metrics firms have also disagreed with Inside Facebook’s assessment: comScore told the BBC that it has seem a 21 percent increase in the number of U.S. Facebook users during May 2011, along with an increase in the average number of minutes users spend on the site per day.

Facebook has often seen its traffic fluctuate with seasonal activities. During the end-of-year holiday buying season it has seen its traffic increase. Similarly, the end of the academic year has often coincided with a dip in Facebook traffic, as students uproot themselves for summer jobs, travel, entering the job market, or re-acquainting themselves with their parents’ basement.

Some industry watchers have speculated that, with an estimated 700 million users (FaceBook itself just says “over 500 million“), Facebook may be nearing a saturation point in developed markets like North America and Europe: Facebook will continue to pick up new users in those markets as new, young users come online and sign up (often at ages well below Facebook’s requirements), but, in general, most people in the U.S. or Europe who are interested in a Facebook account probably already have one. If the company wants to sustain its growth rate, it’s increasingly going to have to focus on markets like Brazil, Indonesia, India, and China.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Meta found over 400 mobile apps ‘designed to steal’ Facebook logins
Social media mobile apps on a smartphone screen, all on a textured gray fabric background.

If you frequently use your Facebook login to sign into new mobile apps you've installed, you may want to pay attention to Meta's latest announcement.

On Friday, Facebook's parent company Meta published a blog post written by its Director of Threat Disruption David Agranovich, and Ryan Victory, a Malware Discovery and Detection engineer at Meta. The post detailed Meta's discovery of over 400 mobile apps "that target people across the internet to steal their Facebook login information." Essentially, Meta found hundreds of mobile apps that were "designed to steal"  the login information of Facebook users by having those users log in to these apps with their Facebook login information.

Read more
Facebook’s new controls offer more customization of your Feed
A smartphone with the Facebook app icon on it all on a white marble background.

Facebook isn't likely to stop recommending posts in your Feed anytime soon, but it is offering a few options for controlling the content you see there.

On Wednesday, Facebook parent company Meta announced that the social networking platform is offering two more ways to customize your feed: by selecting "Show more" or "Show less" on individual posts, and by adjusting new settings in Feed Preferences.

Read more
When is the best time to post on Facebook?
A smartphone with the Facebook app icon on it all on a white marble background.

Knowing when to publish your Facebook posts to gain maximum exposure is important if you're trying to bring more attention to your brand or business. But figuring out the best timing can be a bit tricky as there's no real clear-cut answer that works for every Facebook page. And that's because the optimal timing for different Facebook pages will vary depending on the browsing/viewing habits of their respective audiences.

In the guide below, we'll answer a few of your questions about when to post on Facebook (generally), and we'll mention some ways to figure out the best publish times for your specific Facebook page.
Is it better to post in the morning or at night?

Read more