Facebook now has 1.52 B daily active users, thanks to its growth in India

According to an estimate by Facebook, around 2.7 billion people use one of its services globally, whether it is Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, or its primary social network.

Facebook might have faced a rocky year, owing to growing concerns over data privacy and the much-talked-about Cambridge Analytica scandal. But all this has hardly served a dampener to the social media giant’s business or it’s user growth.

Easily surpassing all Wall Street’s estimates, Facebook on Wednesday reported a growth in user base, up by 9 percent from the year earlier, to 1.52 billion daily active users (DAUs) in the December quarter of 2018. A similar growth was reported in terms of the monthly active users (MAUs) as well, which rose to 2.32 billion – a nine percent increase from 2017. The Menlo Park, California-headquartered company attributed this to growth in India and Facebook’s other emerging markets.

"Q4 was a strong quarter, wrapping up a good year for our business,” David Wehner, Facebook's Chief Financial Officer, was quoted as saying by media reports. “Daily active users on Facebook reached 1.52 billion, up nine percent, compared to 2017, led by growth in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines."

Also Read: Facebook India will now report to Mark Zuckerberg's core team in Menlo Park

Between a privacy scandal, involving political data-mining company Cambridge Analytica allegedly accessing private information of Facebook users, a major security breach, and the battle over spread of fake news; the social media giant witnessed a massive backlash from consumers last year. Despite its struggles, the company was able to retain the advertisers, serving a reassurance to investors concerned about the company’s growth and future.

Beating all expectations, the company also logged a record revenue of $16.91 billion, a jump from $12.97 billion in the year-ago period, in Q4 ending December 31. As for full year revenue, Facebook registered a significant rise, from $40.6 billion in 2017 to $55.8 billion last year.

As per Facebook’s estimates, more than 2.7 billion people use one of its services globally, whether it is Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, or its primary social network.

"Our community and business continues to grow. We've fundamentally changed how we run our company to focus on the biggest social issues, and we're investing more to build new and inspiring ways for people to connect," added Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Facebook.