Facebook sees record highs for Messenger, WhatsApp usage over New Year's Eve

Facebook has revealed that Messenger and WhatsApp saw new records for video and voice calls on New Year’s Eve.“Despite so many being apart from friends and family due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were still able to connect with each other the same way they’ve been connecting all year: through online video and audio calling, and in record numbers,” Facebook outlined in a blog post.The social media giant says that more than 1.4 billion voice and video calls were made through WhatsApp on New Year’s Eve, which is the most calls ever made in a single day on the platform.It notes that the WhatsApp calling increased over 50 percent compared to the number of calls made on New Year’s Eve in 2019.There were also more than 55 million live broadcasts across Facebook and Instagram globally on New Year’s Eve. Further, Facebook says that people celebrated with effects in Messenger and that the top AR effect was “2020 Fireworks.”Facebook notes that it had engineering teams across its apps to support any issue amid the unprecedented traffic.Source: Facebook
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