90% of Facebook’s daily and monthly active users access it via mobile

Total revenue rose to $5.84 billion from $3.85 billion a year earlier, with ad revenue increasing 56.8 per cent to $5.64 billion in the holiday shopping period, when spending on advertising typically spikes. “While net income for the full year 2015 was United States dollars 3.69 billion, free cash flow for 2015 was USD 6.08 billion”, Facebook announced.

During the period, monthly active users reached 1.59 billion during the quarter – up 14% year-over-year – while mobile monthly active users reached 1.44 billion, which represented an increase of 21% year-over-year. Our community continued to grow and our business is thriving.

“Leads ads” on mobile, the product that fills in pre-fills information for users instead of directing them to third-party sites, was big update for Facebook in 2015, McCarty noted. Annual revenue for Facebook in 2015 was $17.92 billion, as compared to $12.46 billion in 2014. Such numbers are truly commendable as they come at a time, when it is making a heavy investment in virtual reality, artificial intelligence, Internet access in remote parts of the world and a mobile ad network for services.

What’s more, Facebook’s revenue is climbing at a more rapid clip than Google’s was at a comparable stage. First, the tech firm builds a great consumer experience and then introduces more ways for people to interact with businesses and public figures, which is what Facebook has done with its app Messenger.

The only possible thing that was disappointing is one that has nothing to do with how successful Facebook is going, but one of disclosure: once again there was no breakdown on where the additional revenue is coming from, something that many Facebook followers and investors would love to see.

And of course, this is a remarkable increase in the advertising revenue for Facebook. Other opportunity areas include groups and events; each month, 500 million Facebook users create and browse events and 1 billion use groups.

Facebook’s earnings report for the 2015 fourth quarter led to a 12 percent increase in the company’s stock.

In comparison, struggling rival Twitter has around 320 million monthly users. The like button will remain but users will be able to express more precise emotions with the “reactions”. “They are the two big gorillas in digital advertising”, said Martin Pyykkonen, analyst at Rosenblatt Securities.