Facebook topped Wall Street's revenue targets last night as robust growth in its mobile advertising business drove a 60 per cent increase in revenue.

Shares in Facebook, the world’s most popular online social network, rose 15 per cent to $56.45 (€41) in after-hours trading.

Revenue from mobile ads, which appear on smartphones, represented 49 per cent of Facebook’s total advertising revenue in the third quarter, or roughly $988 million.

Mobile ads generated roughly $150 million in the same period a year ago, when Facebook was just beginning to develop its mobile ad business.

Facebook’s total revenue in the third quarter was $2.016 billion, ahead of the average analyst expectation of $1.911 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Facebook said it earned net income of $425 million, or 17 cents a share, in the three months to the end of September, compared with a net loss of $59 million, or 2 cents a share in the same period a year ago.