Trust the priority for Facebook with earnings due

Winning back trust is seen as the key priority for Facebook as the world's biggest social network readies its financial update on the final months of 2018 Wednesday.

Facebook is looking to rebound from a horrific year marked by a series of scandals over data protection and privacy, and concerns that it had been manipulated by foreign interests for political purposes.

Facebook so far has been able to keep revenue momentum thanks to its unique advertising model. Its global user base has risen to more than 2.2 billion, although growth has stalled in North America and Europe.

In the quarter that ended in September, Facebook saw a profit of $5.14 billion on revenue that leaped 33 percent to USD 13.7 billion.

Industry tracker eMarketer expects Facebook's share of the global digital ad market to grow this year. The social network claims 20.5 percent of an overall USD 327.28 billion spent.

But analysts say the trust issue is crucial for Facebook if it wants to move forward on its mission to connect the world.

"Facebook needs a fresh start in 2019, and what it reveals about its usage and revenue... will tell us just how feasible that fresh start will be," said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

"In order for Facebook to move forward, it needs to show that its daily and monthly active user counts in the US and Canada and in Europe have stabilized, and that its ability to grow its ad revenue in those important regions has not been seriously impacted by the scandals and investigations of 2018."