Facebook users flock to mobile as numbers rocket

Facebook

Facebook users are growing in number, and using mobile more and more, the social network's record-setting results for 2015 show.

Facebook's monthly active users were 1.59 billion as of December 31, 2015, an increase of 14 per cent year-over-year. Of those users, 1.44 billion regularly access the social network via mobile devices, a rise of 21 per cent year-over-year.

Daily active users totalled 1.4 billion on average, up 17 per cent year-over-year, and daily mobile users hit 934 million on average for December 2015, an increase of 25 per cent year-over-year.

Mobile also helped Facebook increase its income from the advertising market, with mobile advertising revenue accounting for approximately 80 per cent of its total advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015, up from 69 per cent in the same quarter of 2014.

Taken as a whole, Facebook's fourth quarter and full 2015 results were a show of strength for the business.

Its profits for the final three months of 2015 rose to $1.56 billion, up from $701 million. This was the first time Facebook had posted results of more than a billion dollars in a single quarter.

Its overall revenue for all of 2015 was $17.93 billion, which was an increase of 44 per cent on 2014.

News of the results has pleased investors, with Facebook's shar price jumping nine per cent during after-hours trading.

FacebookCEO Mark Zuckerberg said: "2015 was a great year for Facebook. Our community continued to grow and our business is thriving.

"We continue to invest in better serving our community, building our business, and connecting the world."

Facebook's spent heavily through much of 2015, as it invested in numerous projects, such as virtual reality, led by its subsidiaryOculus,artificial intelligence,and its controversial Free Basics project, delivering some internet access to remote part of the globe.

The company recently announced plans to open adatacentre in Ireland that will powered by entirely renewable energy.

Image:Flickr-CC/Marcin Wichary