Facebook’s financial results for the first quarter show mobile advertising and monthly active users continue to boom.
The social networking company reported net income (GAAP) of $US219 million ( £141 million) for the first quarter, up 7% compared with the year ago quarter and up on 2012’s fourth quarter of (GAAP) $US64 million ( £41 million).
This was on revenue of $US1.46 billion ( £938 million), itself up 38% from the first quarter of 2012, but down from 2012’s fourth quarter revenue of $US1.585 billion ( £1.02 billion).
Mobile advertising revenue increases
Advertising revenue was $US1.25 billion ( £803 million), which was 85% of total revenue and up 43% from the year ago quarter. This was down, however, on 2012’s fourth quarter advertising revenue of $US1.33 billion ( £854 million).
Thirty percent of the $US1.25 billion was mobile advertising revenue, the company said, up from 2012’s fourth quarter of 23%.
Facebook now has 751 monthly active users
Facebook saw a year on year increase of a whopping 54% in mobile monthly active users to 751 million as of March 31, and up from December’s 680 million. Monthly active users as a whole were 1.11 billion, as of March 31, up 23% year on year, and up on December’s 1.06 billion.
The world’s population is estimated to be in excess of 7 billion, as a fun fact.
The company said business highlights included launching the love-it-or-hate it (What Mobile hated it, rating it with two stars) Facebook Home, a skin or suite of apps for Android that brings Facebook to the fore of your device.
Instagram gains 10 million monthly active users since January
Another highlight the company identified was Instagram reaching 100 million monthly active users in the first quarter of 2013; the company released its monthly active user number for the first time in January, which at that time was 90 million, following reports earlier in the year that its numbers had nosedived.
