Facebook racing ahead with mobile ads revenue, but is engagement taking a backseat?

After receiving flak for its rather sluggish mobile growth a few years ago, Facebook managed to quickly shut all those wagging tongues. Today, looks like it’s past most of the hurdles in mobile growth, or at least that’s what most recent figures say. The first quarter earnings call of the company proudly talks about surge in mobile ads and how push into mobile apps and live videos have not just given a boost to existing advertisers but also lured new advertisers.

The company which currently has roughly over 1.65 billion monthly active users saw a surge in mobile ads. In the first three months, Facebook’s overall advertising revenue increased by 57 percent year-over-year, and revenue generated from mobile ads jumped by almost 76 percent. In fact, the mobile ad revenue is almost 82 percent of the revenue generated in the quarter. After Twitter, Apple and other tech companies with disappointing numbers,  its probably the best so far.

So, evidently its racing when it comes to numbers.  Meanwhile, are user conversations taking a backseat? Is it slowly turning into all about consuming content and not a platform to engage with friends? Probably, Facebook fears the same and is digging out ways to make people communicate such as ‘Memories of what you did on the same day a year or years ago’or the most recent one being to remind users they’ve been friends with someone on Facebook for a specific period of time. Its trying to remind you all of this, in order to start a conversation, rather than simply sit back with a long list of friends who do not communicate.

(Also read: Facebook working on a Snapchat-like camera app again: Here’s why )

One such effort at more engagement of the platform is a new interface. Yes, a live video interaction by the CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier, gave us a sneak peek into an all new Facebook interface that’s probably coming sooner than expected. A colourful and friendly layout for more engaging conversations.

While Facebook will ask you ‘What are you up to’, it will also offer a colourful list with options such as posting photo, sharing video, starting a live video and so on. Interestingly, there is the option of sharing and searching for GIFs too. Yes, a gif image that Facebook found too chaotic at one point of time.

Obviously, a new, friendly interface is a way for Facebook users to engage in conversations and share more. However, do not expect all of it to come at a go, and you can expect these features in phases. Remember how hell broke loose when Facebook decided to push the new News Feed down your throats. No matter how much we complained back then, it was a much needed change. The social site has learnt to grow, and the numbers are evident, and one of the prime factors for doing so is moving ahead with time and evolution. After all, it doesn’t really want to go the MySpace or Twitter way.