Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp saw record usage on New Year’s Eve

Trevor Mogg
By

With the ongoing pandemic making New Year’s Eve a little different from those that have gone before, it will surprise few that services such as Messenger and WhatsApp saw record usage throughout the day and evening.

“Despite so many being apart from friends and family due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were still able to connect with each other the same way they’ve been connecting all year: through online video and audio calling, and in record numbers,” parent company Facebook said in a message posted on Sunday, January 3.

Recommended Videos

New Year’s Eve turned out to be the biggest day ever for Messenger group video calls (3+ people) in the U.S., with twice as many group video calls taking place compared to the average day. The most popular Messenger augmented reality effect used by people in the U.S. was “2020 Fireworks,” possibly because “2020 Drones” wasn’t available.

Related

Meanwhile, WhatsApp saw more than 1.4 billion voice and video calls take place on New Year’s Eve globally, setting a new WhatsApp record for the most ever calls in a single day, and marking a 50% increase compared to the same day last year.

Across Facebook and Instagram, which Facebook also owns, there were more than 55 million live broadcasts globally during New Year’s Eve.

“In 2020, people turned to technology to stay in touch and get things done in the face of social distancing and stay-at-home mandates, and video calling became arguably the most in-demand feature,” Facebook said.

Caitlin Banford, technical program manager at Facebook, noted how major usage spikes in March 2020 — when the pandemic began to take hold in parts of the U.S. — prompted its engineering team to make “unprecedented efficiency improvements” to its online services that also enabled it to be ready for the demands placed on them during a record-breaking New Year’s Eve.

With the pandemic continuing, Facebook’s strengthened services are well placed to handle anything that comes their way over the next 12 months, ensuring people are able to stay in touch with family and friends until the vaccination process allows people to venture out with greater confidence.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
WhatsApp finally lets you edit sent messages. Here’s how to do it
WhatsApp logo on a phone.

WhatsApp has announced a much-requested edit feature that lets you alter a message within 15 minutes of sending it.

“From correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message, we’re excited to bring you more control over your chats,” Meta-owned WhatsApp said in a blog post introducing the handy feature.

Read more
What is WhatsApp? How to use the app, tips, tricks, and more
WhatsApp logo on a phone.

There’s been no shortage of instant messaging apps over the past decade, as the rise of advanced smartphone platforms has created the need for more sophisticated ways to communicate than traditional SMS text messages allowed for.

In fact, the Apple App Store and Google Play Store are both littered with apps that promised to be the next big thing in mobile communications. Yet, many of those fell by the wayside as they failed to achieve the critical mass of users needed to make them useful. After all, apps designed for communicating with others don’t do you much good unless enough folks are using them. Luckily, WhatsApp made our list of the best iPhone Apps and our infamous list of the best Android apps out there.

Read more
You’ll soon be able to use WhatsApp on more than one phone
Two phones on a table next to each other. One is showing the WhatsApp logo, and the other is running the WhatsApp application.

WhatsApp, one of the most used messaging services in Europe and parts of Asia, is about to close a major flaw. As spotted by the sleuths over on WABetainfo, the company is planning an update that will allow the use of a secondary device -- including another phone or tablet. Currently, WhatsApp only allows phone users to link their account via its web or desktop clients.

The new feature is dubbed companion mode. Once it rolls out, you'll have a workflow that's quite similar to setting up WhatsApp Web or WhatsApp on the desktop. Rather than entering a number, you'll be able to scan a QR code with your main phone to log in to your existing WhatsApp account.

Read more