Facebook passes 1.6 billion monthly active users, 680 million mobile users, and 618 million daily users

While sharing its financial results for the fourth quarter, Facebook on Wednesday announced a number of new milestones. The social network has now passed 1.06 billion monthly active users. Of those, daily active users passed 618 million on average during December 2012 and the number monthly active mobile users hit 680 million.

Here’s the breakdown from the release:

• Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.06 billion as of December 31, 2012, an increase of 25% year-over-year.
• Daily active users (DAUs) were 618 million on average for December 2012, an increase of 28% year-over-year.
• Mobile MAUs were 680 million as of December 31, 2012, an increase of 57% year-over-year.
• Mobile DAUs exceeded web DAUs for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2012.

That last point is definitely new, as Facebook has never shared daily active user figures on mobile, but then again it’s also completely expected. After all, users are more likely to check Facebook on a daily basis from their phone, which they have on them at all times, than from their desktop.

Out of all these numbers, the most important one is of course mobile: Facebook needs to keep growing the number of its users signing in on phones and tablets to stay relevant. In fact, it’s worth noting that 64.15 percent of Facebook’s total user base now accesses the service from a mobile device.

To put things into perspective, that number has been slowly growing from the 40 percent mark in 2011 through and past the 50 percent mark in 2012. Before the end of this year, it could end up passing the 70 percent mark.

Following the third quarter, Facebook announced it had passed 1 billion monthly active users and 600 million monthly active mobile users. More specifically, the company revealed during its third quarter earnings report that it had passed 1.01 billion monthly users, 584 million daily active users, and 604 million mobile users.

While the year-over-year growth numbers are above, it’s also interesting to see Facebook’s growth from quarter to quarter. Between Q3 and Q4, the company was up 4.95 percent in total monthly users, 12.58 percent in mobile users, and 5.82 percent in daily users.