• by Steve Smith  @popeyesm, May 9, 2012

Facebook’s mobile penetration has at last reached the tipping point, with 54% or 488 million of its 901 million monthly users accessing the service on devices. According to the latest infographic roundup from Socialbakers, the social network with the looming and massive IPO has good reason to add the acquisition of Instagram and Glancee in advance of the stock rollout. With a majority of its user base accessing the network from devices, even if many of them still use the desktop at some point in the day, this company needs a clear path to mobile monetization.

But if broken down by operating system, Facebook’s mobile constituency is accessing their news feed from a wide range of devices, including 17% from feature phones. iPhone and Android are tied at 19% each of the mobile Facebook market, but BlackBerry (8%) is still in play as iPad (5%) surges. Meanwhile, 32% of users are coming from “other” devices.

One reason for the fragmentation is the worldwide nature of Facebook’s reach. In fact, while the U.S. continues to have the largest number of mobile Facebook users (105.9 million), many other nations in Asian and developing markets have a much higher mobile penetration among Facebook users. In Japan, for instance, 72.1% of Facebook users are using mobile access. In Botswana the mobile penetration is 75.4%, in South Africa 80.5% and in Nigeris (highest of all, it is 81.2%.

Facebook’s need for a mobile monetization strategy is critical in the U.S., but downright essential in many areas of the globe where mobile platforms are the first or only point of Internet contact.