Facebook now averages over 1 billion active users every day

In terms of user numbers, Facebook now has 1.55bn monthly active users (MAUs) and 1.01bn daily active users (DAUs) – the latter is a significant milestone for the company.

Net income was $896 million, up 11.2% from $806 million.

Accelerating growth in mobile advertising helped Facebook, Inc. top revenue and profit forecasts for the third quarter, helped by an expanding user base and new services geared to marketers.

Excluding a few expenses, Facebook reported earnings of 57 cents USA a share, above the 52 cents US a share projected by Wall Street analysts.

Facebook said its ad business now generates $10.49 per user in Canada and the US.

Shares in the world’s largest social network headed higher in after-hours trading as the figures beat analysts’ expectations. There are now 400 million monthly active users on Instagram; over 700 million on Messenger, and 900 million on WhatsApp.

Ad revenue was the key driver behind the performance, growing 45% year-on-year to 4.3 billion dollars (£2.8 billion). “So there’s a lot of room to expand that and that’s just a big opportunity for the internet overall and for India over the next decade and we hope to play a role in that”, he said.

In addition, Facebook’s Web site and Instagram photograph-sharing app, which opened up its platform to all advertisers in the third quarter, account for more than 1 in 5 minutes spent on mobile devices in the USA, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said. It said the segment made up about 78 percent of all advertising revenue.

Average revenue per user in the USA and Canada grew to $10.49 up 42%, more than thrice the global average of $2.97 and more than seven times that the Asia-Pacific, where revenue averaged at $1.39 per user. Daily active users are up 17 percent from previous year, the company revealed Wednesday.

Facebook’s continued growth is largely driven by mobile: 894 million people used Facebook on their phones every single day in September.