Facebook Touts Its ‘Economic Impact’ but Economists Question Numbers | WSJ, REED ALBERGOTTI, 20/01/2015
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/20/facebook-touts-its-economic-impact-but-economists-question-numbers
A report commissioned by #Facebook concludes that the social network was responsible for $227 billion in global economic impact, and 4.5 million jobs, in the year ended October 2014, roughly equal to the gross domestic product of Portugal. The report was prepared by the consulting firm Deloitte.
(…) “The results are meaningless,” Stanford economist Roger Noll said in an email. “Facebook is an effect, not a cause, of the growth of Internet access and use.”
(…) The study also estimated that Facebook is responsible for 16% of smartphone sales. Ana Aguilar, the Deloitte director who oversaw the study, cited a European survey in which 16% of respondents said they could not live without social media.
She said the study relied on statistics from #Facebook as well as qualitative discussions with Facebook about its economic impact on the world. Some of the details of the study are confidential. For instance, Aguilar would not reveal the estimated value of a single “#Like.”
via @antoniocasilli qui commente : « En 2014, Facebook aurait créé 4,5 millions d’emplois rémunérés… à partir du #digital_labor gratuit d’1,3 milliard d’utilisateurs ! »
