It’s all about artificial intelligence.
That was the message from Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg when he discussed the company’s third-quarter earnings Wednesday on an investor call. Buoyed by strong overall results—the company’s revenue jumped 23% and profit nearly tripled—Zuckerberg said the company’s new AI tools will change the way people use Meta’s apps. These include “Creator AIs,” coming next year, which will help creators interact with fans.
That’s all well and good, but what about Reels—Meta’s answer to TikTok? According to Zuckerberg, the company’s work building out the feature has led to a surge in time spent on Instagram, which is good news for creators, who benefit from bigger audiences. Still, Zuckerberg didn’t comment on plans to improve the ability for creators to make money from Reels, an area where Meta has been lacking. (Meta ended a program in March to pay creators cash bonuses for using Reels, though Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said he hoped to bring it back.) Zuckerberg also hinted during the call that instead of emphasizing Reels, Meta would focus on video overall, going forward, suggesting a subtle shift in strategy. Advertisers have also noticed the company is talking less about Reels these days, as we previously reported.
