Daily Archives: April 26, 2023

Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” doesn’t seem to be affecting Facebook’s growth. Meta’s social network added 37 million users during the first quarter of the year, bringing total daily users up to 2.037 billion. Meanwhile, the number of daily users across the company’s “family of apps” rose to over 3 billion users for the first time in company history.

The company reported the growth in its first-quarter earnings report for 2023, the first since Zuckerberg announced the company was focusing on “efficiency” amid an economic downturn that has led the company to shed thousands of jobs. That shift seems to be showing some signs of success, as Meta reported $28.6 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 3 percent from last year and the first revenue growth in nearly a year for Meta.

Despite the boost, though, Zuckerberg confirmed that more layoffs are still scheduled to take place next month. “Even as our financial position improves, I continue to believe that slowing hiring, flattening our management structure, increasing the percent of our company that is technical and more rigorously prioritizing projects will improve the speed and quality of our work,” he said during a call with analysts.

Reality Labs also continues to take major losses, losing just under $4 billion for the quarter. That’s a bit less than the $4.3 billion the company lost last quarter, but Meta has said it expects 2023 losses for its metaverse division to top the $14.3 billion it lost last year.

During the call, Zuckerberg said the company is still prioritizing its massive investment in the metaverse, even as it increasingly turns its attention to generative AI. “A narrative has developed that we're moving away from focusing on the metaverse vision,” Zuckerberg said. “So I just want to say upfront that that's not accurate. We've been focusing on both AI and the metaverse for years now, and we will continue to focus on both.” He added that the company was preparing to launch its “next-generation consumer virtual and mixed reality device” later in the year.

Meta’s CEO also talked more about his plan to create “AI agents” and other generative AI tools for the company’s apps. “I think that there's an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful. We're exploring chat experiences in WhatsApp and messenger, visual creation tools for posts on Facebook and Instagram and ads, and, over time, video and multimodal experiences as well.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/facebook-is-still-growing-amid-metas-year-of-efficiency-222320433.html?src=rss

Facebook is still growing amid Meta’s ‘year of efficiency’

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On Wednesday, a group of contractors at YouTube Music voted to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA). Out of the 49 workers who were eligible to vote, 41 voted in favor of the action, with the remaining eight abstaining. As of last year, the workers were already paying AWU-CWA dues but were seeking bargaining rights. In March, the group won a landmark legal victory when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Google must bargain with them to ratify their union contract.

While Google vowed to challenge the ruling, the results of today’s vote could have significant implications for the company. Provided the NLRB’s decision stands, Google will need to collectively bargain with a group of its US employees for the first time in the company's nearly 25-year history. That’s something that could prompt other groups within the tech giant to pursue unionization.

“After months of union-busting by Google and Cognizant, our YouTube Music members have just won their NLRB union election in a blowout victory and are ready to bring both of their employers to the table to win their fair share,” the Alphabet Workers Union tweeted.

Although Wednesday's vote was months in the making, it comes after Google laid off 12,000 employees – or about six percent of its global workforce – in late January. This week, the company shared its Q1 earnings results, reporting a net income of $15 billion. It also announced a $70 billion stock buyback. In 2022, the year workers at YouTube Music Content Operations filed for union recognition with the NLRB, Google compensated CEO Sundar Pichai to the tune of $226 million.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-music-contractors-vote-overwhelmingly-to-unionize-in-landmark-election-213844906.html?src=rss

YouTube Music contractors vote overwhelmingly to unionize in landmark election

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