Facebook hits 1 billion mobile monthly active users

Instagram
What y'all have been up to on Instagram

Not only is Facebook forking over around $2 billion (about £1.2b, AU$2.1b) for the company that makes Oculus Rift, it's also stepping out with some pretty heady numbers for its longer-standing properties.

First up, Facebook's first true love: mobile. Zuckerberg revealed Facebook now has 1 billion active users on its mobile apps. The company repeated its December 2013 figure of 945 million monthly users just last week, but clearly it was time for an update.

Furthermore, Zuckerberg said that looking at all mobile phone usage, more than 20% of peoples' time is spent on Facebook.

The company has made much of its "mobile first" approach, and it appears to be paying off.

Insta-success

As for Instagram, Facebook's first big payout, the photo sharing service revealed today that it has over 200 million users, with over 50 million of those joining in the last six months.

Users sat at 100 million when Facebook purchased the then-tiny team in 2012.

During a call with analysts to discuss the Oculus purchase, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Instagram is "already ahead of where we want it to be."

He assured Facebook won't make multi-billion dollar purchases every few months a regular thing, but with Instagram growing, WhatsApp expected to reach 1 billion people and Oculus Rift's potential as the future of computing, there's certainly some things Zuck is wiling to spend his bucks on.

Michelle Fitzsimmons

Michelle was previously a news editor at TechRadar, leading consumer tech news and reviews. Michelle is now a Content Strategist at Facebook.  A versatile, highly effective content writer and skilled editor with a keen eye for detail, Michelle is a collaborative problem solver and covered everything from smartwatches and microprocessors to VR and self-driving cars.