TECH : Mark Zuckerberg brags about people spending less time on Facebook (See)

The CEO, Facebook Mack Zuckerberg said  users in the fourth quarter spent 50 million hours less per day on the social network than the previous quarter, in part by reducing the number of viral videos people see — the consequence of Facebook's new push to prioritize the quality of interactions on its platform over the popularity of content. Those changes have also contributed to stalled growth in some places, including a slight drop in the number of U.S. users.

Facebook is still in an enviable position compared to most other companies. In the fourth quarter, the company’s operating profits grew by 61 percent, or $7.35 billion, and 14 percent more people log on each day than they did the previous year, the company said. Revenue jumped to $13 billion from $8.8 billion a year earlier. It beat analyst estimates for the 12th straight quarter.

Zuckerberg has responded in part by shifting the company’s priorities toward valuing meaningful interaction instead of just sheer time spent on the platform.

"2017 was a strong year for Facebook, but it was also a hard one,” Zuckerberg said. “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 insisted the changes, including a recently announced move to decrease the amount of content from news publishers and brands, would make the company healthier over the long term. But analysts seemed a little wary on the call, questioning the impact of the news feed changes.

Zuckerberg pushed back against the notion that the company had previously only prioritized the amount of time it could get people to stay on Facebook. “There’s this myth that we optimized news feed for time or likes or comments,” he said.

For years, he said, the company had surveyed people to ask them what type of Facebook content they found to be the most valuable. Now, he said, the company was starting to ask people what types of behavior, content or experience on Facebook created the most meaningful interaction. Those interactions could include experiences outside of Facebook, including a text message or a conversation in the real world, he said.

“We need to understand that,” he said, of the effort to study interactions. “We are going to be moving all these systems over time … it is not going to happen overnight.”

Victor Anthony, an analyst with Aegis Capital, said he does not expect the news feed changes to significantly reduce Facebook's revenue. “Advertisers still want access to those users,” he said. He added that advertisers will simply bid at higher prices to get their ads in front of Facebook's audiences, offsetting the potential losses if users continue to spend less time on Facebook.

In addition to the news feed changes, Facebook also touted its focus on security, saying it had doubled the number of people who work in that area. The company’s head count grew significantly over all, to more than 25,000 people.