Metaverse and about its Family

The corporation that controls Facebook, Meta Platforms Inc. (FB), generates much of its money from selling advertising space on its multiple social media platforms. Websites and smartphone apps are two venues that individuals may use to communicate and engage with their family members and friends. The company's websites and apps include the social networking site Facebook, the photo- and video-sharing app Instagram, and the messaging apps Messenger and WhatsApp. Through its Oculus virtual reality devices, Meta also creates an entire set of structures and services that allows users to interact.  As part of its ambition to expand the metaverse, the corporation is beginning to focus more on its augmented and virtual reality goods and services.

Meta competes with firms that sell advertising to marketers and companies that provide platforms for consumers to communicate and share information across their numerous social networks. Apple , Alphabet’s Google and YouTube, Tencent Music Entertainment Group, Amazon, and Twitter are all major competitors.

In the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31, 2021, Meta earned $10.5 billion in net income on $33.9 billion in total sales, for a net profit margin of 30.7 percent. Advertising income accounted for 98 percent of the total. The remaining 2% came from the company's new Reality Labs section (described in more detail below) and other sources.

In this Blog, we will discuss about the two major segments of Meta - Apps in a Family and Reality Labs, and then we will look briefly at 4 major products of Meta and their current status. Let’s get started

Business Segments of Meta

Meta currently divides its financial performance into two groups as of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021: Family of Apps (FoA), which comprises Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other applications; and Reality Labs (RL), which covers the company's augmented and virtual reality-related products and services. For both of these categories, Meta reports revenue and operating profits. Previously, the corporation only published a revenue breakdown for Advertising and Other revenue.

Apps in a Family

Meta's revenue from selling advertising to marketers, which accounts for virtually half of the company's overall revenue, is captured in the Family of Apps category.

Meta's primary social networking site, as well as Instagram, Messenger, and other third-party associated websites or mobile applications, display advertisements. Marketers pay for advertisements depending on the amount of impressions or actions made by consumers, such as clicks.

In Q4 FY 2021, the Family of Apps division generated $32.9 billion in sales, accounting for nearly 98 percent of the company's total revenue. The division generated $15.7 billion in operating income during the quarter, accounting for the entire company's operating income.

Reality Labs

Reality Labs Meta's augmented and virtual reality-related gear, software, and content are all part of the Reality Labs sector. The company's goal to develop up the virtual environment known as the metaverse relies heavily on augmented and virtual reality technology. The Oculus virtual-reality headset is included in this part.

In Q4 FY 2021, the Reality Labs division generated $869 million in sales, accounting for around 2% of total revenue. When compared to the previous quarter, revenue for the division climbed by 22.4 percent. In the fourth quarter, the division posted a $3.4 billion operating loss, lowering the company's overall operating profits.

Whatsapp

WhatsApp is a smartphone messaging app that is mainly used for communication between people across the Globe. WhatsApp uses the internet to deliver messages, images, music, and video. The service is comparable to text messaging, but it is far less expensive than texting since WhatsApp distributes messages via the internet.

Number of active users

The number of WhatsApp users is the first item on your list of WhatsApp statistics to learn.

There are already over 2 billion WhatsApp users worldwide, and this number is growing. WhatsApp users have increased by half a billion every two years, reaching 1.5 billion in 2018 and 1 billion in 2016.

It's even slowly catching up to Facebook, the king of social networking. Because of the large number of WhatsApp users, there is a lot of advertising and reach possibilities. But, before you get too enthusiastic, keep in mind that Facebook, its parent firm, has declared that it will not be proceeding with its initial intention to give ad placements.

Downloads

WhatsApp Messenger app downloads were about 42 million in January 2022.

After social networking applications TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, it was also the fourth most downloaded non-game app worldwide.

WhatsApp has more app downloads than some of its closest competitors, like Facebook Messenger and Telegram.

Facebook

In February 2004, Harvard University students Chris Hughes, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook, a social networking website.

Number of active users

There are 2.80 billion monthly active users on Facebook. If that statistic doesn't impress you, consider that 1.84 billion people use the social networking site on a daily basis. This indicates that consumers were using one of Facebook's key products, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger.

Downloads

When it comes to social media, Facebook has never lost a match. According to recent statistics, Facebook is the most popular social media network, with close to 60% percent of social media users using it.

Facebook has dominated the world of social media since its inception, and it appears that there is no halting the behemoth. Despite the presence of a slew of powerful competitors such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and a slew of others, Facebook continues to outperform the competition.

Instagram

Instagram is a picture and video sharing software that can be downloaded for free on iPhone and Android. People can use our service to submit photographs or videos and share them with their followers or a small group of friends.

Number of active users

Instagram is expected to have 1.1 billion users worldwide by end of this month. That's a significant achievement for the photo-sharing platform.

Downloads

Instagram is not just mobile-friendly, but its whole design implies that it was created with smartphones in mind. The fact that several functionalities are not available on PC backs up this assertion.

Instagram was the fourth most downloaded app in the world with TikTok, WhatsApp, and Facebook higher downloads above Instagram

Messenger

Messenger, a Facebook-owned instant messaging application, debuted in August 2011, replacing Facebook Chat. Messenger may be used without a Facebook account, so it's accessible to those who haven't joined up or who have deactivated their account.

Number of users

A present, Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion monthly active users.

Individual persons are counted here, not simply active accounts. Because one individual can have many Facebook Messenger accounts, the real number of active Facebook Messenger users is substantially larger. The number of active accounts on Facebook has not been released.

Downloads

On the Google Play app store, the Messenger app has topped five billion downloads. Messenger for Android has now surpassed Facebook as the third non-Google app to reach five billion downloads, following Facebook in 2019 and WhatsApp in early 2020.

Future of Meta Platforms

The reaction in the business world was mixed when Meta Platforms announced its rebranding and realignment towards the metaverse in October 2021. The term 'metaverse,' which had been confined to tech circles for the majority of the year, has exploded in popularity, with executives from dating sites, cryptocurrency exchanges, and a professional wrestling organization among those claiming to be building the metaverse, having a strategy for engaging with it, or both.

Many analysts felt that the popularity of Facebook as a product was declining and even more strikingly among the younger generation due to the availability of more options and gone are the days when Facebook was the only social media application. Though Facebook can generate huge amounts of revenue the brand image was getting hurt with recent scandals.

Therefore, it is an attempt by Facebook to also have a brand revamp and give it a new age orientation and shape. Meta has set some ambitious goals and its two major goals - Reels and Reality Labs - are a big bet and it is earnestly hoped by Meta as an organization that they will be a big hit. Facebook changed the landscape of the Internet in the past decade like no other firm did and we hope the innovative ecosystem keeps revamping itself. And now with an entire family of Apps which we have discussed at length above creates a remarkable difference and makes the world truly a global village.