Canadians spend a lot of time on Facebook. A company representative told The Canadian Press that 25% of mobile use — one of every four minutes spent on a smartphone — is spent engaging with the service, though it’s unclear whether that includes other apps employing Facebook Connect for authentication.
Jordan Banks, Facebook Canada’s managing director, said that 20 million use Facebook every month, though overall growth appears to be slowing. But mobile usage continues to rise, hitting 16 million monthly in the last quarter, with 12 million hitting the service daily. Those numbers are up 23% and 28% respectively over last year.
Mobile ad revenue was Facebook’s saving grace last quarter, which now accounts for over 65% of the company’s advertising total. While 16 million monthly mobile users may seem like a lot — it’s nearly half of the Canadian population — it’s just a drop in the bucket of the company’s 1.12 billion worldwide total. Still, Banks says that Canada is an important market for Facebook, as it often tests new products and designs in the early adopter-friendly Canadian market before rolling them out worldwide.
To that end, Facebook will continue debundling mobile features from its main app. This year, the company forces users to download a separate Messenger app, at the behest, according to Banks, of its user base. That trend will continue in 2015. The company released nine separate apps this year, including Groups, Rooms, Slingshot, Stickered and more.
[source]CBC[/source]
