Facebook has reported a powerful surge in profits for the first quarter as its user base continues to increase.

Revenue jumped to $5.38bn for the quarter ended 31 March 2016, from $3.54bn in the same period last year.

Net income tripled to $1.5bn in Q1, compared to $512m in the year-ago period.

Monthly active users rose to 1.65 billion, up 15% from a year ago, and those using Facebook daily increased 16% to 1.09 billion.

Mobile daily active users were 989 million, an increase of 24% year-over-year, and mobile daily active users rose 21% to 1.51 billion.

Mobile advertising revenue represented about 82% of advertising revenue for Q1, up from 73% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2015.

According to data firm eMarketer, Facebook will capture $10.29bn in display ad revenues in 2016, or a 31.2% share of total display ad spending in the US.

In the UK, Facebook will capture £1.43bn in display ad revenue in 2016, or a 32.1% share of display ad spending in the country, representing a 26.1% increase on last year.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: "We had a great start to the year.

"We’re focused on our 10 year roadmap to give everyone in the world the power to share anything they want with anyone."

Facebook also said its board had proposed creating a new class of non-voting capital stock, dubbed the Class C capital stock, which will keep Zuckerberg in control of the company.

If the proposal is approved, the company aims to issue two shares of Class C capital stock as a one-time stock dividend in respect of each outstanding share of its Class A and Class B common stock.

The new structure will likely benefit Facebook and its stockholders by encouraging Zuckerberg to remain involved with the company in a leadership role; mitigate succession risk; and better mitigate potential future voting dilution.

Shareholders will get to vote on the proposal at an annual stockholders meeting on 20 June 2016.

Zuckerberg agreed to give away 99% of his Facebook shares for the cause of human advancement.

The money will go to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, focused on efforts like personalised learning, curing disease, connecting people, and building strong communities.