LOS ANGELES — Facebook’s bet on mobile advertising seems to be paying off handsomely.

The social network reported profit of $701 million in the three months ended Dec. 31, up $178 million from a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter was up 48 percent to $3.85 billion.

Most of the revenue came from Facebook’s advertising business, which hit $3.59 billion, an increase of 53 percent year-over-year. Mobile advertising revenue was 69 percent of total ad revenue, also up from 53 percent last year.

What the industry calls “engagement” also saw big gains. The social network’s monthly active users totaled 1.39 billion as of Dec. 31, up 13 percent, while mobile monthly active users were 1.19 billion, up 26 percent. Facebook-owned apps also reported growth in monthly active users, particularly photo sharing service Instagram (300 million), and mobile messaging services Messenger (500 million) and WhatsApp (700 million).

“We got a lot done in 2014,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. “Our community continues to grow and we’re making progress towards connecting the world.”


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