Half of all Internet users are on Facebook

Approximately half of the world’s online population accesses Facebook on a monthly basis, the social media giant has reported.

By the end of Q2 2015, 1.49 billion people accessed the website at least once in a month, up 13 percent from the same period last year and representing half of the estimated global online population of 3 billion, Facebook said.

The majority of these monthly users access the social network through mobile devices. The number of mobile monthly active users increased 23 percent year-on-year to 1.31 billion during the quarter that ended 30 June.

Meanwhile, daily active users is at an average of 968 million, representing an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year. Of this number, the number of mobile daily active users stands at 844 million which represents a 29 percent year-on-year increase.

The increase in Facebook’s monthly and daily active users seemed to be brought about by the social media giant’s increase in user base to 1.44 billion -- greater than the population of China -- during the end of the first quarter.

The increase also equated to a boost in advertising revenues for the company as it reported total revenues of $4.04 billion (£2.59 billion) for the second quarter, which is up 39 percent from the previous year. Mobile advertising revenue represented about 76 percent for the second quarter, up from about 62 percent in the second quarter of 2014.

Facebook’s net income, after adjusting for one-time items, increased 28 percent to $1.44 billion. And by the end of the quarter, Facebook had $14.13 billion of cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities at hand.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo credit: Twin Design / Shutterstock