Facebook looks back with delight at the turn of the year. Especially for the New Year, people would have used the company’s apps to get rid of good wishes and greetings. The numbers for Whatsapp, the Messenger app, Facebook and Instagram increased significantly compared to the previous year. The enormous increase is related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Doubling of usage As the company announces, more than 1.4 billion video calls and simple audio calls are said to have been made via WhatsApp for the New Year. This represents a new record for the app. Compared to the turn of the year from 2019 to 2020 use more than doubled.

The in-house messenger app, which was developed in conjunction with Facebook, is said to have been used with many effects at the same time. In the USA, the augmented reality effect “2020 Fireworks” was particularly popular. In addition, New Years Eve 2020 was the most successful day so far for messenger group video calls in the USA. These video calls typically involve more than three people speaking to each other at the same time. Here there was almost a doubling of calls compared to everyday use.

Via Facebook’s large platforms, Facebook and Instagram, users also had more than 55 Millions of live switches denied the New Year’s Eve.

Proximity despite Corona The large increase in usage figures is likely to be due to the coronavirus pandemic and a number of lockdown measures in various countries. Many people were encouraged to reduce their contacts at the turn of the year in order to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This is how Facebook interprets the numbers.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, far more people had met virtually over the course of the year 2020 and exchanged in order to still be able to continue exchanging information in times of contact restrictions. This was also clearly shown in the company’s statistics. The numbers for video calls and other calls would have broken earlier New Year’s records in the spring. In order not to have to accept any failures of the apps at the turn of the year from 2020 to 2021, Facebook has taken appropriate precautions .

(kbe)