Nearly half the world’s internet population is on Facebook

The social network giant now has 1.28 billion active monthly users, up from 1.23 billion in the last quarter. That’s almost half the number of people using the internet across the entire globe.

Most of these people are connecting via their mobile phones

Facebook mobile use

Bar chart from Facebook

A massive 1.08 billion – or 79% – of these active monthly Facebook users are checking the site via their smartphone.

More than a quarter of active monthly users are only connecting via their smartphone. Mobile-only use has almost doubled from 189 million this time last year to 341 million in January to March 2014.

Mobile is driving revenue like nothing else

You probably already know that Facebook’s advertising revenue has grown by 82% to hit $2.27bn. What you may not know is that mobile contributes to 59% of that, up from 30% a year ago.

Asia is Facebook’s fastest-growing market

Asian Facebook users are right up there with the US as the social network’s fastest growing markets. Both have generated 47% higher advertising revenue compared to this time last year, while the number of active monthly Asian users has jumped from 319 million last year to 390 million this year.

Despite Facebook’s plans, advertising is still king

Like button2

While rumours abound that Mark Zuckerberg and co are due to start an international money transfer business, the fact is that advertising accounts for 90.5% of Facebook’s overall revenue. That’s 5.1% more than last year, so it’s growing too.