Facebook parent Meta has warned its employees of a “difficult” year as its ad revenue continues to suffer as the economy weakens. According to the internal document obtained by The Verge, the social media giant’s emphasis for the rest of the year is metaverse and ad revenue from Reels and Shops Ads. The latest development comes less than a month after another leaked document detailed the company’s plans to cease hiring due to revenue shortfalls.
Meta’s ambitions to launch Whatsapp Communities before it goes global at the end of the year are also mentioned in the memo. The function, which was unveiled in April of this year, attempts to improve group talks.
The internal memo on investment by Meta chief product officer Chris Cox warns about “serious times” ahead and the “headwinds are fierce”. The letter reads, “We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets. We must prioritise more ruthlessly, be thoughtful about measuring and understanding what drives impact, invest in developer efficiency and velocity inside the company, and operate leaner, meaner, better exciting teams.”
The memo does not specifically mention other consumer-centric features that the business is depending on during the second half (H2) of 2022, although it does restate its previous goals to spread Facebook Reels to a wider audience. According to Meta, Business Messaging will be its most crucial revenue growth prospect. The top objectives in this category are ‘click-to-messaging ads,’ ‘paid messaging,’ and’software and tools.’
Apart from that, Meta will continue to prioritise AI in AR and increase AI capacity (Metaverse and Avatar autogen). It also mentions privacy. The memo emphasises the company’s “emphasis on boosting Privacy Review efficiency and working to make Privacy Review less disruptive for product teams.”
Meanwhile, a corporate spokeswoman told CNBC that the internal document was just meant to illustrate the company’s internal strategy. According to the memo, prospective investment developments are not “absolute priorities.”