iWorld
Facebook’s new features help increase interactivity & user-interest
NEW DELHI: In a series of rapid announcements specifically aimed at advertisers, Facebook has made a significant expansion of ad types and formats available in the Audience Network to get better outcomes for the advertisers, and the people that use the app.
Some of the features of the new innovations are:
1. Native autoplay video: By upgrading to the latest SDK and utilizing the new MediaView, publishers can now bring the autoplay video ads experience from Facebook directly to their apps. Video demand will also compete with native display in the same auction to maximize yield for each impression served. Over the past six months, Facebook has seen increased publisher adoption of native ads with ~ five times more apps now using native ads than the start of 2015. In fact, native ads represent over 80 per cent of impressions in the Audience Network.
2. Click-to-play video: Via a server-side change, Facebook will now show click-to-play video ads from Mobile App Install advertisers in full screen interstitials. Publishers who already use Audience Network full screen interstitials will be eligible to deliver the following formats without any changes to their existing placements:
3. Carousel Ads: High engaging format that shows multiple ads in a single view that people can scroll through. This experience is very similar to H-Scroll, however all ads are from a single advertisers instead of multiple advertisers. They can showcase up to five images within a single ad unit.
4. Dynamic Product Ads: Retailers and e-commerce businesses with large product catalogs have seen success creating personalized ads for their shoppers on Facebook, and now their campaigns can extend to the Audience Network. This solution will generally be delivered in Carousel formats.
In a statement, Facebook said, “We have a deep understanding of what formats perform well and drive engagement in Facebook News Feed and are taking two of our best performing units and making them available off Facebook to further empower Audience Network publishers and help drive results for advertisers.”
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
