Canadians race to use Facebook on mobile

Canadian Facebook users are going mobile in a big way, with more than 15 million accessing the social network via cellphones or tablets at least once a month. That's up 15 per cent from August 2013.

Canada was one of the first countries to see widespread adoption of Facebook and now has 19 million users, according to data released Wednesday by Facebook Canada.

About 10 million users check their Facebook accounts at least once a day via cellphone or tablet, according to Facebook Canada head Jordan Banks. Another 4 million users check Facebook daily via non-mobile devices such as desktops.

"Essentially we're getting 50 per cent of Canadian (internet users) on Facebook every day and the exciting part for us as marketers is that when you look at the composition of how those people are accessing Facebook, it's more increasingly on a mobile device than ever before," Banks said.

He claims that Canadian internet users are on Facebook almost 20 per cent of the time they are online, according to measurement firm ComScore.

"We're seeing people check their phones 20 times a day for Facebook -- status updates and news feed posts and checking in -- so it's really become like a Canadian reflex, if you will, to access your phone, whether you're at a bus stop or a hockey game or sitting at home watching TV."

The high degree of mobile engagement has been good for Facebook’s bottom line.

In the fourth quarter of last year, mobile ads generated 53 per cent of its revenues which topped more than $1 billion in the three-month period.

"We're now making more money on mobile devices than we are on PCs and this mobile revolution is really taking hold in no other country as aggressively as it is in Canada," Banks says, noting that growing smartphone ownership has made Facebook all the more popular.