Facebook used by half of world's online population

Half of the world's estimated online users log on to Facebook at least once a month, the social networking site has claimed.

According to the company, the number of people who use Facebook at least once in a month grew 13 per cent to 1.49 billion in the three months to the end of June this year. The number is equal to half of the estimated three billion people who use the internet globally.

Facebook said of those users, well over half, 65 per cent, were now accessing the social networking site daily, 'BBC News' reported. "People were now spending more than one out of every five minutes on their smartphones on Facebook," the company said.

"The majority of the monthly users now access the social network through mobile devices. The rise in monthly active users helped drive second quarter revenue up 39 per cent year-on-year to $4.04 billion," the report said. Mobile advertising revenue was the biggest factor, accounting for more than three quarters of the total.