Fewer users may log on through PCs in coming years: Facebook

Facebook expects a decline in number of users logging on the social networking website through PCs globally, especially from the US and other developed markets of Europe and Asia.

The California-headquartered firm projects that the future growth will come from mobile, helped by more and more users in emerging markets, especially India, logging on the social networking site through their handheld devices.

"We anticipate the rate of growth in mobile usage will continue to be the primary driver of our user growth for the foreseeable future and that usage through PCs may be flat or decline worldwide, including in key markets such as the United States and other developed markets in Europe and Asia," Facebook said.

The latest user data from Facebook also presents a similar picture.

Facebook's daily active users (DAUs) rose by 22% to 757 million during December 2013 from 618 million in the year-ago period helped by growth in major markets including Brazil, India and the US.

"Overall growth in DAUs was driven largely by increased mobile usage of Facebook. The number of DAUs using personal computers (PCs) decreased modestly in December 2013 compared to the same period in 2012," it added.

Worldwide mobile DAUs rose 49% to 556 million on average during December 2013 from 374 million during December 2012.

On growth in mobile users, Facebook said: "In all regions, an increasing number of our DAUs are accessing Facebook through mobile devices, with users in Brazil, US and India representing key sources of mobile growth on average during December 2013 as compared to the same period in 2012."

About 395 million mobile DAUs accessed Facebook solely through mobile applications or its mobile website on average during the month ended December 31, 2013, increasing 65% from 240 million during the same period in 2012.

The remaining 161 million mobile DAUs accessed Facebook from both PCs and mobile devices during December 2013. Its total user base rose to 1.23 billion MAUs, up 16% year-on-year, and 945 million mobile MAUs, up 39% from the year-ago period.

The company also said emerging markets like India are a "key source" of growth with increasing number of users logging onto the site through handsets, driving up its advertising revenues 76% to USD 2.34 billion during the December 2013 quarter.

 Mobile advertising revenue represented about 53%, growing from around 23% a year-ago.