Most platforms experience the natural highs and lows, and ebbs and flows, of doing business over a typical year.

Plainly, Facebook is no ordinary platform.

Whether it was revenue, user growth or engagement, Facebook racked up wins virtually across the board. The fake news scandal was a rare blip on the otherwise sunny Facebook horizon.

What's in store for the juggernaut in 2017?

Money monster

Facebook's recent earnings report blew expectations out of the water. Facebook netted a tidy US$7.01 billion, much of this from mobile.

More than paying for fancy new offices and bragging rights, Facebook now has a vast war chest with which to indulge in new projects – and repurpose features from rivals.

With an extended family including Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, it's hard to see Facebook's influence and bank balance going anywhere but up in 2017.

Virtual reality

Video has been big on Facebook for some time, but Mark Zuckerberg has bigger plans for moving pictures.

This year Facebook rolled out live video streaming, and enhanced support and features for 360 degree videos.

With the release of the Oculus headset, expect to see more VR content coming to the feed next year.

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While Twitter long had the handle on news, Facebook has made major advances in the area. The only problem – as this year's US election revealed – is that much of the news is false.

Facebook has made noises about clamping down on fake news, yet Twitter has shown us that taming trolls can be tricky.

Can Facebook come up with the secret sauce for balanced and accurate news reporting in 2017? That may be wishful thinking, even for Facebook.