Facebook report claims that it adds more than $200bn to global economy

A new report from consulting firm Deloitte and Touche, and commissioned by Facebook, claims that the social network generates sizable economic activity. In 2014 alone, the report claims, Facebook generated US$227-billion worth of economic impact and helped create 4.5-million jobs.

Looking at the size of Facebook, with its 1.35 billion users, it is not hard to imagine this being possible. Facebook also offers many platforms for businesses to promote their services and thus impacting on how well those businesses do and how much revenue they generate.

The methodology to the research looked at the businesses that maintain pages on Facebook as well as the mobile apps that games that consumers play on Facebook and then measure all the economic activity that result from all of this. The research also considers the demand for gadgets and online connectivity services that are generated by Facebook.

“People believe that technology creates jobs in the tech sector and destroys jobs everywhere else,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told Reuters in an interview on Friday. “This report shows that’s not true.”

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The point Facebook is trying to make is that tech companies cannot longer be looked at non-contributors to economy growth. Perhaps it will ease the pressure on other tech startups that have seen governments attempt to make it impossible for them to operate.

“We’re no longer in a place where large companies can create the jobs the world needs,” Sandberg said.

When a company advertises to customers on Facebook, some of the sales can be directly attributed to Facebook. When consumers donated US$100-million for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis during this summer’s Ice Bucket challenge, Facebook’s auto-play video ads were a key factor, thus making Facebook an integral part of the donations.

Facebook, according to Sandberg, is helping create a new wave of small businesses from everything from fashion to fitness and all around the world too. As examples, Sandberg cites a group of young women in Bengaluru, India, who started a hair accessory business using Facebook and the other example she cites is that of a mother in North Carolina who started the Lolly Wolly Doodle line of clothing, selling to customers through Facebook.