Facebook registered a massive spike in usage as the coronavirus spread around the globe, and people everywhere were obliged to stay home. The company has seen its phone calls over the social media app more than doubling in the last few weeks.
In many countries, messaging on Instagram and Facebook increased by more than 50 percent, and group calls in Italy soared by over 1,000 percent. The company has announced the news on Tuesday, March 24th.
“The usage growth from COVID-19 is unprecedented across the industry, and we are experiencing new records in usage almost every day,” Alex Schultz and Jay Parikh, two Facebook vice presidents, wrote in a blog post.
A Chance to Redeem
The social media platform officials also said that the usage had been particularly challenging to tackle because most Facebook employees are currently working from home.
“We’re monitoring usage patterns carefully, making our systems more efficient, and adding capacity as required,” they wrote. “To help alleviate potential network congestion, we are temporarily reducing bit rates for videos on Facebook and Instagram in certain regions.”
This is a pressure test for Facebook, which has, for years, struggled with the backlash regarding privacy and toxic content. Indeed, many people stopped using the platform after the news broke with regard to data sharing to third-parties. Now, the platform has the possibility to change that narrative and be seen as great communication and information way while the outbreak keeps everyone inside.
Fortunately, the developers working to make Facebook better are releasing updates for it on a regular basis, which keeps it fresh and up to date.
Facebook 263.0.0.46.121 Update
The most recent roll-out for the social media giant, Facebook 263.0.0.46.121 update, has now been made available to users. It doesn’t bring new features or content, but it is one of the regular releases that come with improvements in performance and some fixes. The update rolled out via OTA channels, which means you should get it automatically if you stay connected to a Wi-Fi network.
