Facebook adds $227bn to global economy, claims study

Deloitte & Touche study claims Facebook generated 4.5mn jobs and added $227bn to global economy in 2014.

The number of users on the social network Facebook now surpasses 1.35 billion and would rank as the second most populated nation in the world, if it were a country.

It is figures like these that have led to a new study into the impact of Facebook on the real world, where the company states it has a real economic effect.

Facebook commissioned the report from consultancy firm Deloitte & Touche to take a look at the businesses that hold pages on the social network in order to interact with consumers. Furthermore, the study considered the mobile apps and games that are played on the website and other interests and demands that it generates.

The study concludes that Facebook generates $227 billion worth of economic activity and that it helped create 4.5 million jobs in 2014, quite a staggering claim if true.

Facebook helps create jobs everywhere

“Everyone’s worried about jobs,” admitted Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, as she spoke at Davos about how changes in the technology world are thought to only create jobs in the tech sector, while destroying jobs elsewhere.

“The transformation is happening faster than ever before,” she added. “But tech creates jobs not only in the tech space but outside,” she insisted.

However, according to Sandberg, Facebook is helping small businesses take off all over the world in every sector, from fashion to fitness. Speaking at Davos, she described how the internet has changed from being “all about anonymity” to the stage where everything is shared.

“Now everyone has a voice… now everyone can post, everyone can share and that gives a voice to people who have historically not had it,” she said.

Less than half the world can access the internet

While the internet is becoming incredibly easy to access in the western world, less than half the globe’s population are able to get online. Which is why there remains much potential for Facebook in the future, according to Sandberg.

“Today, only 40 per cent of people have internet access,” she said, adding: “If we can do all this with 40 per cent, imagine what we can do with 50, 60, 70 per cent.”

“Sixty per cent of the internet is in English. If that doesn’t tell you how un-inclusive the internet is, then nothing will,” she explained.

Top image: Master OSM 2011