It’s been a tough 2023 for Meta. The Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp parent company has conducted several rounds of layoffs, most recently last week when 10,000 staff were culled.
The cutbacks came along with a hiring freeze and a general restructuring of the company, in an attempt to reverse dwindling revenues and reassure nervous shareholders.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke of making 2023 Meta’s ‘Year of Efficiency’ with a focus on growth and expansion in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
It would seem the tech giant is managing to turn things around, according to an earnings report released last week.
Q1 revenue was up 3% year-on-year, totalling $28.6 billion. This is a marked improvement when compared to recent results, Meta previously reported revenue decline in three consecutive financial quarters.
When discussing the positive results, Zuckerberg attributed the turnaround largely to the power of modern AI tech, maintaining that it has been instrumental in allowing the company to optimise and improve ad efficiency.
According to Zuckerberg, AI tools have been put in place to develop further monetisation options for Facebook and Instagram Reels, which both saw year-on-year growth of 40% and 30% respectively.
AI has also allowed Meta to increase the reach and visibility of Reels, using a TikTok-inspired algorithm to deliver personalised content to users and boost engagement levels.
Zuckerberg went on to discuss the potential for generative AI, which has been making headlines as the tech behind tools like ChatGPT.
According to Zuckerberg, Meta is looking to utilise generative AI to create an ‘open ecosystem’. This comes as Meta appears to be stepping back from its VR Metaverse push, citing technological limitations.
Earlier this month, the company confirmed that it had established a new generative AI team that has been working towards creating generative AI ad creation tools and a video analysis system.
As AI tech continues to improve at a rapid rate, we can expect to see more social media platforms utilise the technology to improve products and services.
