India, Brazil users lift Facebook count to 1.15 bn

Buoyed by surging user base in the emerging markets of India and Brazil, social networking giant Facebook has said its monthly active users (MAUs) rose by 21 per cent to 1.15 billion as of June 30, 2013.

The US-based firm had reported a user base of 955 million in the same period a year ago.

"Users in India and Brazil represented key sources of growth in the second quarter of 2013 relative to the prior year," Facebook said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

MAUs are a measure of the size of its global active user community.

The firm's global daily active users (DAUs) rose by 27 per cent to 699 million on average during June 2013 from 552 million during June 2012, again helped by growth in India, Brazil and other markets.

"We experienced growth in DAUs across major markets including Brazil, India, and the US," it said.

DAU is a daily registered Facebook user who logged in and visited Facebook through the website or a mobile device or took an action to share content or activity with his or her Facebook friends or connections via a third party website that is integrated with Facebook, on a given day.

The firm, however, did not give individual MAU figures for India and Brazil for the period ended June 30.

As of March 31, 2013, Facebook had 73 million MAUs in Brazil, an increase of 62 per cent compared to the same period in 2012. The user base in India rose by 50 per cent to 78 million as of March 31, 2013 compared to the same period in 2012.
Powered by surging mobile advertising revenue, Facebook posted a net income of USD 333 million for the April-June quarter against a loss of USD 157 million in year-ago period.

Revenue totalled USD 1.81 billion in the second quarter, an increase of 53 per cent, compared with USD 1.18 billion in the second quarter of 2012. Its revenue from advertising grew by 61 per cent to USD 1.60 billion in the quarter over the year-ago period.

Worldwide mobile MAUs rose by 51 per cent to 819 million as of June 30, 2013 from 543 million as of June 30, 2012.

"In all regions, an increasing number of our MAUs are accessing Facebook through mobile devices, with users in India, Brazil, and Indonesia representing key sources of mobile growth over the second quarter of 2013 as compared to the first quarter of 2013," it added.

Mobile MAUs is a user who accessed Facebook via a mobile app or via mobile-optimised versions of the website such as m.facebook.com, whether on a mobile phone or tablet such as the iPad, during the period of measurement.

Overall growth in DAUs was driven by increased mobile usage of Facebook, Facebook said.

During the second quarter of 2013, the number of DAUs using personal computers increased modestly compared to the same period in 2012.

But in certain key markets such as the US, number of DAUs using PCs decreased, while mobile DAUs continued to increase.

Worldwide mobile DAUs were at 469 million on an average during June 2013," it added.

Facebook said 219 million mobile MAUs accessed the site solely through mobile apps or its mobile website during the month ended June 30, 2013, up 16 per cent from 189 million during the month ended March 31, 2013.

The company said users accessing the site on their mobiles or handheld devices are increasing internationally and the firm is also focusing on encouraging mobile usage.
"While most of our mobile users also access Facebook through PCs, we anticipate that the rate of growth in mobile usage will exceed the growth in usage through PCs for the foreseeable future.

"... And that the usage through PCs may be flat or continue to decline in certain markets, including key developed markets such as the US, in part due to our focus on developing mobile products to encourage mobile usage," it said.