For the first time, more than 3 billion people use their services, including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, monthly on a monthly basis, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, announced. According to Mashable, these 3 billion 2.6 billion people use Facebook alone and more than 2.3 billion people use at least one of these services every day.
Zuckerberg further announced in a Facebook post that in places hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, message volume has increased by more than 50 percent. Voice and video calls have more than doubled in Messenger and WhatsApp. “In Italy, for example, we spent up to 70 percent more time on all our apps, Instagram and Facebook Live views doubled in a week, and we also saw more time in group video calls with more than 1,000 percent in March.
The post also talks about how Facebook is currently targeting three key areas, including helping people stay connected, helping public health and working for economic recovery, especially for small businesses most affected by COVID- 19 pandemic. To help with the public health response, Facebook has set up a Covid-19 Information Center at the top of everyone’s Facebook app to connect users with authoritative health information and has led more than 2 billion people to date.
The company has also taken steps to combat misinformation about the coronavirus on the platform by not allowing such messages on the platform. It partners with independent fact checkers, who have marked over 4,000 pieces of content around COVID-19 as false. There are also many other privacy-related changes that the company has been working towards. (ANI)
