2015 has been a good year for social media giant Facebook Inc (FB - Analyst Report). Their brand has expanded even further across the globe: now, more than a billion people are using the site, both on mobile and desktop, every day. No other social media company comes close to that number, or can touch Facebook’s ubiquitous presence in our daily lives. Let’s take a look at seven other things Facebook did in 2015.
1.Facebook expands its Safety Check tool.
First introduced in 2014, Safety Check was designed as a helpful tool that people can use when major natural disasters strike; it allows you to let your friends and family know you’re safe, check on others in the affected area, and mark your friends as safe.
It has been rarely used since then—only five times to be exact, and they were all in wake of natural disasters—but in the aftermath of the Paris attacks on November 13, more than 4 million people used Safety Check to mark themselves as “safe" in the 24 hours after Facebook activated the tool. After receiving criticism for not activating the tool for attacks in Beirut, Lebanon the day before, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook would “plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward.”
2. Facebook dominated the 2015 list of top smartphone apps.
According to a recent Nielsen survey, Facebook’s primary app was the most popular app of 2015, with an average of more than 126 million unique visitors. Facebook Messenger had a31% jump in its number of average unique users from 2014, holding the number three spot on the list, with over 96 million unique visitors. The popularity of its messaging app is important for Facebook, as the company continues to expand Messenger beyond a simple means of communication.
3. Facebook Messenger partnered with popular ride-hailing company Uber.
Announced earlier in December, Facebook Messenger will now allow users to directly request an Uber through the app. You can access Uber in two ways: if your destination’s address has already been mentioned in the conversation, you can simply tap it to request a ride; or, you can select the “More” option in Messenger (the three dots symbol in the toolbar) which will take you to the new transportation choice.
Your current conversation thread will display when your Uber has been ordered, which conveniently lets your friends know when you are on your way to meet them. It also displays tools found in the primary Uber app like your ride’s ETA and surge pricing notifications.
4. Facebook wants to be a “family of apps.”
At the company’s F8 Developers Conference back in March, it became clear that Facebook wants to be more than a single app. Instead, the company is looking to become a family of apps that provide diverse functions for users and protect one another from disruptions. This “family” would include Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus Rift (a virtual reality headset), and other outside developers.
5. The company is testing multiple news feeds.
Facebook is adding customizable interest-based feeds. A newspaper made up of all the world's newspapers. pic.twitter.com/Ll7pib6Mb5
— Jason Stein (@jasonwstein) December 29, 2015
A recent development, Facebook has begun to test multiple, topic-based news feeds that automatically sort posts from the people and pages you follow the most into different sections or feeds. For example, it lets you choose between a traditional news feed or one that is focused on style, travel, or trending news headlines.
The feature is currently only available to a small number of users. There is no official word on when, or even if, the feature will be made available to all Facebook users.
6. Facebook hit 8 billion daily video views.
A number that has doubled from the 4 billion video views in April, Facebook’s impressive 8 billion daily video views are coming from its only 500 million users. Despite contentions that this number is not accurate, as Facebook counts just three seconds of watching as a video view, it still shows how much users are consuming videos on the company’s website and mobile app.
The company is also testing a video feed where users can browse various video channels that are shared by friends, are currently trending, or other topical themes.
7. Facebook is one of the world's most valuable companies.
Facebook showed incredible stock market prowess in 2015. In its earnings report for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, Facebook beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines, allowing its stock to soar past $110 per share that day. Currently, shares rest at just below $107 per share; its stock price is also one-third higher than it was a year ago.
In addition to impressive estimate beats, Facebook’s revenue was up more than 40% from the last quarter, and the company posted a profit $896 million, up 11% from a year ago. The social media company has also reached a market capitalization of over $303.33 billion, making it one of the world’s most valuable companies.
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