Social networking is one of the hottest areas of the internet today, with platforms vying for users' attention and loyalty. However, the performance of different social ** companies in 2023 is very different. Meta (formerly Facebook) soared in market value by $197 billion after releasing its "strongest ever" earnings report, and an internal email informed employees that the bonus would be 15 times the distribution. And Snap (Snapchat's parent company), struggling with the downturn in the advertising market and challenges to Apple's privacy policy, announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce, or about 500 people. Why is there such a huge contrast between these two giants in the North American social field?
Meta's success is mainly due to its strong innovation capabilities and diversified business layout. Meta not only owns Facebook, the world's largest social network, but also has a number of popular apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Meta is also constantly exploring new technology fields, such as augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, blockchain, etc., to create a metaverse platform covering multiple scenarios such as social networking, entertainment, e-commerce, payment, and games.
Meta's ability to innovate is also reflected in its open-source attitude, with Meta releasing several leading AI models in 2023, such as LLAMA and BlenderBot 20, detr, etc., providing technical standards and references for the entire industry. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the earnings conference** that open source improves the quality of the model and will not affect product differentiation.
On the other hand, Snap's predicament is mainly due to its single business model and fierce competitive pressure. Snap's main revenue** is digital advertising, a market that has been impacted by the pandemic and Apple's restrictions in 2023. Apple on iOS 14Version 5 introduced the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature, which requires apps to obtain user consent before collecting user data. This is a heavy blow to companies like Snap that rely on personalized ads, causing their ad revenue and user growth to suffer. Snap is also trying to expand into new areas of business, such as hardware and subscription services, but the results are not as good as they can be.
Snap has launched a number of augmented reality glasses, but they have not attracted the attention and recognition of the market. Snap has also launched Spotlight, a Tiktok-like short** feature, and Snapchat Plus, a subscription service on its platform, but the growth has not been as fast as expected. Snap faces stiff competition from platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and more, making it difficult to break through the bottleneck of its core social networking business.
On the whole, Meta and Snap, as major manufacturers in the North American social field, will have a huge contrast in their performance in 2023, mainly due to the difference in their innovation capabilities and business diversification. With its strong technical strength and extensive business layout, Meta has achieved steady growth and high profits, bringing generous bonuses to employees. Snap, on the other hand, has fallen into difficulties and crises due to its single business model and fierce competitive pressure, and has had to take measures such as layoffs to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The comparison between these two companies also provides some inspiration and reference for other social ** companies. That's all for this article, if you like this article, welcome to like and collect it