WhatsAppusers the world over made more than 1.4 billion voice and video calls on NewYear's Eve, the most ever calls in a single day on the platform, Facebook said.
AsCovid-19 made meeting with friends and family tough, WhatsApp calling on NewYear's Eve 2020 increased over 50 per cent compared to the same day last year,the company said on Friday.
Videocalling became arguably the most in-demand feature in 2020 as people turned totechnology to stay in touch and get things done in the face of socialdistancing and stay-at-home mandates.
"BeforeCovid-19, New Year's Eve generated Facebook's biggest spikes in messaging,photo uploads and social sharing at midnight across the world. However, inMarch 2020, the early days of the pandemic produced traffic spikes that woulddwarf New Year's Eve several times over -- and it lasted for months,"Caitlin Banford, Technical Programme Manager at Facebook, said in a statement.
"Thisyear, New Year's Eve looked a lot different, and we had engineering teamsacross Facebook's apps, ready to support any issue, so the world could ring in2021."
Peoplecelebrated with effects in Messenger, and the top AR (augmented reality) effectin the US was "2020 Fireworks."
Facebooksaid that New Year's Eve 2020 was the biggest day ever for Messenger groupvideo calls (3+ people) in the US, with nearly 2X more group video calls on theday compared to the average day.
Therewere more than 55 million live broadcasts across Facebook and Instagramglobally on New Year's Eve, the company said.