FB is a mobile company, says Zuckerberg, as number of desktop users dwindle

Facebook's mobile Daily Active Users (DAU) have exceeded those on the desktop for the first time in its history, the company revealed at its Q4 earnings call yesterday. CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the surge in mobile users, saying, “There’s no argument, Facebook is a mobile company.” He also referenced a comScore report to prove that Facebook is the top app in the US, beating Google Maps, and accounts for 23 percent of total time spent on mobile apps in the the country.

In the past year, Facebook has focused on growing its network and leveraging mobile devices and platforms by regularly updating the Android app and completely rebuilding the iOS version. However, such a surge in mobile DAUs was rather unexpected.

The company stated in a press release that mobile revenue represented approximately 23 percent of advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2012, up from approximately 14 percent of advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2012. It should be noted that these numbers do not include Instagram, which was acquired by Zuckerberg’s company last year.

The social network reported Monthly Active Users (MAUs) were 1.06 billion as of December 31, 2012, an increase of 25 percent from last year’s figures. DAUs were 618 million for December 2012 and mobile MAUs grew 57 percent over 2011 to reach 680 million in December 2012.

Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook

The release was accompanied by a statement by Zuckerberg. It read, “In 2012, we connected over a billion people and became a mobile company. We enter 2013 with good momentum and will continue to invest to achieve our mission and become a stronger, more valuable company.”

At an event last September, Zuckerberg projected that a day will come when Facebook would make more revenue from mobile users. That’s not the case as of yet, but the shift is in full swing. At the time, he had said, “We’re going to execute this mission to make the world connected and build value over the long-term. The bigger question that will define how we’ve done is how we do with mobile.”

During the earnings call, Zuckerberg discussed the power of mobile: “It allows us to reach more people, there is more engagement from those people, and we’ll be able to make more money from those users. Mobile creates a more dynamic ecosystem.”

Facebook stock declined 7 percent in after-hours trading even though its revenue rose 40 percent to $1.59 billion in Q4 2012, compared to $1.13 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. Revenue from advertising alone accounted for $1.33 billion and is a 84 percent chunk of total revenue. Payments and other fees for the fourth quarter were to the tune of $256 million.