Facebook revealed its fourth-quarter reports on Wednesday, and for probably the first time ever, the company saw a decline in the amount of time daily-active users in the United States and Canada spent on the site per day. The platform also estimates that the time spent on the site is down by an estimated 50 million hours per day. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the site's overall performance last year was "strong," but admitted that there was some hardships faced along the way.
"2017 was a strong year for Facebook, but it was also a hard one," Zuckerberg said, according to Business Insider. "In 2018, we're focused on making sure Facebook isn't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being and for society. We're doing this by encouraging meaningful connections between people rather than passive consumption of content."
Zuckerberg's remarks seem to be hinting at the aftermath of Facebook's role in allowing outside influences to abuse the site in a manner that negatively helped shape the democratic landscape. It's an issue that Facebook owned up to earlier this month, adding that the platform is focused on "working to make politics on Facebook more transparent." Zuckerberg stresses that the company is determined to ensure that "meaningful connections" are made. "By focusing on meaningful connections, our community and business will be stronger over the long term," he said.
On the bright side, the site still managed to bring $4.26 billion in profits last quarter, and saw its total daily active users worldwide increase from 1.37 billion to 1.4 billion.
