Facebook grows user base to 1.55 billion, profits up

In the third quarter, Facebook made it easier for companies to buy ads on the Instagram photo-sharing app and reach its 400 million users. The growth rate for mobile monthly active users was higher – 23 percent – bringing the total to 1.39 billion. Zuckerberg said on Facebook’s earnings call that the social network now serves 8 billion video views every day, although it bears remembering that Facebook’s autoplay counts as little as three seconds as a view. But at $202 million, down from $215 million in Q2, payments make up less than 5% of Facebook’s revenue, so it’s not that big of a deal.

We’ll be reporting on the results as soon as they come out, so check back or refresh this page. Meanwhile, it’s serving younger and global user bases with Instagram and WhatsApp respectively.

Facebook doesn’t disclose how much of its revenue comes from Instagram.

Revenue jumped to US$4.50 billion in the third quarter ended Sept 30, from US$3.20 billion a year earlier. Profit was up 11 percent, while revenue grew 40 percent from the same period a year earlier. Facebook said in its report that it has 727 million monthly active users who only use its service on their smartphones – a large increase from even just two years ago, when it had 254 million similar users.

Google is expected to remain the market leader with 30.4 percent share this year, down from 32 percent last year, eMarketer estimates. And this earnings report shows that Facebook’s mobile-only users continue to rise, as does the percentage of revenues drawn from advertisements shown to those smartphone owners around the world.

The stock advanced 1.3 percent to $103.94 at the close in New York, leaving it up 33 percent this year.

Social networking giant Facebook Inc.

While the company hasn’t spelled out plans to make money from those apps, chief financial officer David Wehner told analysts Wednesday that he’s confident “there are going to be opportunities” in the future. Most of the new users are outside the USA and Canada. Still, she said she’s recently seen “a couple of duds”.