Whether You Trust Meta or Not, the Company Sure Knows How to Profit off of You
The rise of competing social apps has impacted engagement far more than revenue
People love TikTok. People love YouTube. People used to love Twitter (before the implosion). People used to love Facebook and Instagram too, but in many ways Meta has become the de facto villain of big tech. Privacy scandals, political misinformation, mass layoffs and widespread distrust have damaged the brand beyond measure. And yet, despite the company’s nonstop turmoil over the past few years, Mark Zuckerberg’s baby still drives revenue like no other social media company in the world.
Across all of its properties, Meta generates 75% of all social ad dollars in the United States. The more surprising stat, however, is the fact that the company represents just 42% of time spent on social media by U.S. adults. TikTok is largely to blame for this trend, but the hottest social app drives a fraction of the profits. In the third quarter of 2023 alone, Meta is expected to generate nearly three times more revenue than TikTok will see over the course of the entire year. And even though TikTok recently surpassed Instagram with an average of 4.43 billion minutes spent on the app each day, the revenue gap is a clear reminder that Meta dominates the social landscape…
