Mobile First: Facebook Claims 1 Billion Active Mobile Users, 200 Million On Instagram

In answering questions about Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a couple of new user stats that show the company’s mobile-first strategy is paying off.

Zuckerberg told analysts on a conference call yesterday that Facebook now has 1 billion active monthly mobile users. That’s up from 945 million in December. Facebook’s mobile users surpassed those on PCs in Q4 2012.

Instagram’s user base has doubled since Facebook acquired the company in April 2012, boasting more than 200 million users. Two years ago, Instagram had 100 million users.

Instagram introduced advertising to the platform last November with an ad from Michael Kors. Earlier this month the mobile photo sharing app struck an advertising agreement with Omnicom reportedly worth up to $100 million.

While the market may not have been enthusiastic about the Oculus deal, many of Facebook’s ad tech partners are bullish on these latest user stats.

Joe McCormack, CEO of Facebook PMD Adquant, says, “Between Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger, Facebook is leading the industry to the next generation of mobile. One billion active monthly users on mobile is just the tip of the iceberg for Facebook. With such exponential growth, we expect Facebook to be on all four billion mobile phones in the world in the near future.”

In the press release announcing the Oculus deal, Zuckerberg said, “Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow.”