Mobile key to Facebook's future growth

In its first earnings reports since the May IPO, Facebook has posted a net loss of $157 million on revenue of $1.18 billion. That's despite revenues being 30% more than during the same period last year.

According to COO Sheryl Sandberg, 84% total revenue came from advertising ($922 million), a 28% increase on the same period last year.

"Newsfeed functions in the same way on desktop [as it does on] mobile so with the Newsfeed, marketing [is seamless]," said Sandberg, "We have partnered with Nielsen to show that in a study of over 500 ad campaigns, Facebook drives 31% more brand awareness than non-Facebook ads."

Sandberg added that "the best type of advertising is a message from a friend", something borne out by recent research from Performics.

Mobile is being touted as a bright spot for Facebook and company executives said they have seen promising results albeit they were being careful not to put off mobile users by crowding small screens with ads.

During the earnings call Mark Zuckerberg made mention that mobile is key to Facebook's future growth. "Mobile users are 20% more likely to use Facebook on any given day," he said, adding that sponsored story ad formats in in mobile news feeds are performing well.

Tags: earnings, Facebook, revenue, social marketing, social network