Week 15 Part B: What we Learn from FaceBook Analytics

 In 2020 Apple changed its privacy policy. This new change makes it harder for Facebook to target user data and sell advertisements. Based on Meta’s lower-than-expected profits, the company could see sales losses of over $10 billion. Apple’s Identifiers for Advertisers (IDFA) policy would impact Facebook’s annual income causing a stock value slump of 26 percent and an anticipated loss of 10 billion in sales revenue.

The data collected from social media platforms and cookies has driven the digital economy. Platforms like Facebook can afford to offer its services for free because they turn around and sell the data they collect. This is how they have generated huge profits. iOS 14 offered users the option to stop sharing their unique profile numbers with advertisers Resulting in 62 percent of iPhone customers prohibiting the selling of their personal information.

As we have had a year to process the numbers, it seems that Facebook was impacted far more than other social media sites. Although most other companies saw a loss, Facebook was hit the hardest. Alphabet and Twitter were mostly unaffected by the changes, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Meta’s answer to this upheaval is the metaverse. I assume one of the reasons for Facebook's name change to Meta was to distance itself from the Facebook brand and establish itself as an umbrella company driving the next innovation in how we use the internet and connect. This shift if successful will almost certainly generate a revenue stream for Meta.

Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Meta explained revenue will potentially come from, the sale of electronic devices necessary to enter the Metaverse and advertising, but they will focus primarily on the sale of virtual goods and virtual real estate according to Forbs.