Facebook closes in on 1bn mobile users

While reports rumouring the death of Facebook seem to come around every now and then, new research from eMarketer suggests that there’s still life in the social media giant yet.

According to the research, almost 1 billion Facebook users worldwide will access the platform on a mobile phone at least once a month this year, with more than three quarters of Facebookers set to be mobile users by 2018.

The research also reveals the importance of mobile to Facebook’s advertising revenues. In 2013, 45% of the social network’s $6.99 billion global ad revenues came via mobile ads, and in 2015 the number is expected to rise to 73% of $10.99 billion.

Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, said that Facebook has been a leader in helping marketers to transition to mobile advertising.

“Because the Facebook experience is basically the same across devices, advertisers don’t have to reinvent the wheel to place mobile advertising,” Williamson said.

“As Facebook’s user base shifts even more heavily toward mobile, it is well positioned to see increasing ad revenues from this channel.”

According to eMarketer, this year there will be 1.58 billion mobile phone social network users worldwide, with Facebook representing 60% of the total audience.

The US will remain the largest market for mobile phone Facebook users in 2015, with 123.1 million people accessing the site regularly, while India’s Facebook mobile phone audience is set to surpass 100 million.

The UK and Russia are the only other countries in the top 10 where mobile phone Facebook users will account for more than 90% of all Facebook users during eMarketer’s forecast period.