Everybody knew that the Facebook generation was going to grow up one day, but nobody predicted how that might happen — or how quickly. In the event, teenagers have simply passed the baton to their parents rather than waiting to come of age themselves, and the social network has cashed in.
The Silicon Valley favourite delivered exceptional results this week, propelling it past General Electric in size to within spitting distance of the mighty Amazon. Its 41 per cent increase in revenue to $4.5 billion was driven by a 72 per cent year-on-year growth in advertising on smartphones and tablets to $3.3 billion.
Yet it seems to have been driven, too, by a fundamental change in its user profile. Research into the way in which