Facebook无惧丑闻，用户量再创历史新高

尽管遭遇了一系列尴尬的丑闻以及用户倒戈的运动，但Facebook在全球的人气却达到了前所未有的高峰。

Facebook于1月底表示，其去年第四季度的日活跃用户数达到15.2亿，同比上涨9%。

这一新闻发布于公司受到连续两天负面报道之后。利用一个不通过苹果（Apple）App商店给iOS用户安插的应用，Facebook追踪了部分用户的手机和网络活动，此举引发了猛烈抨击。作为回应，苹果取消了Facebook的开发者证书，致使Facebook员工无法继续通过存在争议的应用收集数据，也不能利用内部应用来测试更新和新功能了。

在遭遇这场最新的尴尬之前，Facebook还有一系列处理用户数据不当、传播虚假新闻等过失，导致批评者掀起了“删除Facebook”（#DeleteFacebook）的运动。

尽管如此，Facebook用户的忠诚却一如既往。

Facebook的首席财务官戴夫·韦纳在1月底的第四季度收益电话会议上表示：“让数据说话，我们在所有地区都有增长。”

增长主要源于Facebook在印度、印度尼西亚和菲律宾的扩张，公司在这些地区新增了1,600万用户。美国和加拿大的日活跃用户数在连续持平三个季度后，第四季度也有100万的增长。

财报发布后，eMarketer的分析师戴博拉·阿霍·威廉姆森在照会中写道：“Facebook用这些数据清楚地证明了2018年的挑战并未对公司提高……使用率的能力产生长久影响。”

这可能是Facebook最后几次公布其核心业务的数据了。公司计划逐步取消“仅含社区”的统计方式，转而公布旗下所有应用——Instagram、WhatsApp和Messenger的整体数据。

Facebook第四季度的业绩震惊了市场。公司轻松超过了分析师预测的收入164亿美元和每股利润2.19美元，最终实现了169亿美元收入和2.38美元每股利润。

Facebook的业绩也让公司的股价在盘后交易中猛涨11%至167.65美元，而日常交易的收盘价为150.42美元。

首席执行官马克·扎克伯格在收益电话会议上还宣布了推出新功能的计划。扎克伯格表示，公司2018年在安全和保障上投入了大量资金，他们在2019年将继续开发一系列新功能，包括消息平台加密、在线购物、消息过期、为视频流媒体服务Watch的观看者提供新的好友互动方式等。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

Despite a series of embarrassing scandals and calls for users to defect, Facebook is more popular than ever worldwide.

Facebook said in the end of January that it had 1.52 billion daily active users in the fourth quarter, up 9% from the same period last year.

The news comes after two days of bad press for the company, which was slammed for tracking the phone and web activity of some users through an app that it distributed to iOS users without going through Apple’s App store. Apple responded to the news by revoking Facebook’s developer certificate, which essentially blocks Facebook employees from continuing to collect data from the controversial app as well as use the internal app for testing updates and new features.

The latest embarrassment followed a series of other missteps related to mishandling user data and the spread of fake news that prompted critics to create of the #DeleteFacebook movement.

But despite all of it, Facebook users remained loyal.

“Let the numbers stand for themselves,” Dave Wehner, Facebook’s chief financial officer, said during the fourth-quarter earnings call in the end of January. “We’re growing in all regions.”

The growth was attributed mostly to expansion in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where 16 million users were added. Daily active user numbers in the U.S. and Canada grew 1 million after remaining flat over the previous three quarters.

“With these results, Facebook has clearly demonstrated that the challenges of 2018 have not had a lasting impact on its ability to increase … usage,” Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with eMarketer, wrote in a note following the earnings report.

This may be one of the last times Facebook breaks out numbers for its core service. The company plans to phase out “community-only” metrics and instead report the combined results of its family of apps—Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Facebook’s fourth quarter results shocked the market by easily beating analyst predictions of $16.4 billion in revenue and $2.19 per share in profits. The company instead reported $16.9 billion in revenue and a $2.38 per share profit.

The results sent Facebook’s stock soaring more than 11% in after-hour trading to $167.65 from a closing price in regular trading of $150.42.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced plans for new features during the earnings call. The company, which Zuckerberg said spent much of 2018 investing in safety and security measures, will spend 2019 working to develop new features including encryption across messaging platforms, online shopping, the ability for messages to expire, and letting viewer of Watch, the company’s video streaming service, interact with their friends in new ways.