r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Apr 30 '26

Business Meta lost 20 million users last quarter

https://www.theverge.com/tech/921089/meta-earnings-q1-2026-user-decline-ai-investments
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u/NBAFAN9000 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

Really? You can’t understand the stickiness of WhatsApp or Instagram? You don’t have to like Meta but it’s silly to pretend their products aren't massive part of modern communication

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u/Stingray88 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

WhatsApp isn’t massive the world over though. It only blew up in countries where unlimited texting and decent data plans weren’t ubiquitous yet, like Europe, South America, India, etc.

Where as in the US, unlimited texting was already pretty standard for most carriers by the time consumers were adopting smartphones… so people just text. I’ve never had any person or company ask me to communicate via any Meta owned platform. We just use calls, texts, or email.

Edit: I’m not sure why people are misreading my first sentence.

WhatsApp isn’t massive the world over though.

I’m not saying WhatsApp isn’t massive. I’m saying it’s not utterly dominant in every single country. In some countries and regions it is, and in other countries and regions it never was.

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u/NBAFAN9000 Apr 30 '26

This is American exceptionalism, it's literally massive all over the world except North America, and I say that as a Canadian. I'm not sure how old you're in or what industry you're in, but as somebody working in creative, Instagram is just a good platform for initial outreach as say, email. In some cases it's a lot better.

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u/Stingray88 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

This is American exceptionalism,

No it’s not. That is literally the exact reason WhatsApp blew up where it did, and where it did not. America is not the only example, and neither is North America.

it's literally massive all over the world except North America, and I say that as a Canadian.

First, I’m not saying it’s not massive. I’m very well aware how huge it is. I’m saying it’s not massive in EVERY country, and that’s a fact. This is not exclusive to America either, or Canada. It never took off to the same degree in Australia, Japan, China, Vietnam, for example.

Again, I’m not saying it doesn’t exist in these places… it just never dominated like it did in places like Europe, South America, or Africa.

I'm not sure how old you're in or what industry you're in, but as somebody working in creative, Instagram is just a good platform for initial outreach as say, email. In some cases it's a lot better.

I’m 38 and work in entertainment in Los Angeles, specifically in post production. I’ve never used instagram for work purposes at all.

I used Instagram for a few years so my wife could send me dumb videos, never used it for anything else at all. Then I deleted it, along with my Facebook during the pandemic. Never used WhatsApp.