Deloitte: Facebook added $6.6bn to the UK economy in 2014 January 20, 2015 Facebook added $227bn (£149bn) to the global economy in 2014, according to a Deloitte and Touche report commissioned by the social media giant. Although Facebook only generated revenue of $12bn (£7.9bn) in the financial year, the report calculates all the economic activity “enabled” by the social media platform. These include businesses with pages [...]
Elon Musk’s space internet: How we could soon have Facebook friends on Mars January 19, 2015 Ten years from now, we could be exchanging Facebook messages and tweets with people on Mars. Billionaire investor and inventor Elon Musk has come up with an idea to take the world wide web to a galactic level by setting up a vast network of satellites far out in space. Some 4,000 of [...]
David Cameron wants Twitter and Facebook to help intelligence agencies track down dangerous people January 15, 2015 Later today, Prime Minister David Cameron will try to persuade US President Barack Obama of the need for more cooperation between intelligence agencies and US tech firms like Twitter and Facebook. He will say that public safety is at stake, and that new laws regarding communication via social media platforms should be imposed [...]
Young adult Facebook users to decline over next three years January 14, 2015 Market research group eMarketer is predicting that there will be “almost” no new UK users aged 12 to 24 joining the social behemoth in the next three years. In addition, the number of users aged 18 to 24 will fall annually between 2016 and 2018, the group claims. Between 2015 and 2018 the [...]
Facebook to put warnings on violent videos January 13, 2015 Facebook has started warning users about the content of violent videos, asking users to confirm they want to proceed to content that could “shock, offend and upset.” Before the changes, which have been slowly rolled out since September, content would auto-play in users’ news feeds without asking for confirmation. The restrictions are only applied to [...]
Silicon Valley was right to invest in DNA: Facebook and Google-backed personal genetics business strikes $10m deal with Genentech January 7, 2015 Facebook and Google will be pleased about their decision to invest in personal genetics business 23andMe. The firm, which sells DNA testing kits to individual customers for $99 (£65) each, has secured a major deal with Genentech – a subsidiary of Roche. According to Forbes, 23andMe is receiving an upfront payment from Genentech [...]
Mark Zuckerberg’s book club: Facebook founder invites people to join his 2015 challenge to read a book every other week January 5, 2015 It’s that time of year again when resolutions are made and many more broken. Those struggling to stick to theirs should be heartened that even the world’s biggest entrepreneur and richest man thinks he needs to do a little self-improvement. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has set himself a challenge of reading a new book every [...]
New year’s resolutions to make you think more like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg December 31, 2014 As if running a $221bn (£142bn) company isn't enough, Mark Zuckerberg is known for his commitment to keeping new year's resolutions. Every year, the Facebook founder sets himself a new challenge – a process which, he told an audience last week, forces him to "do other things outside of [work]". But Zuckerberg doesn't just go for [...]
Instagram valued at $35bn – but how does that compare to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and WhatsApp? December 19, 2014 Instagram exceeded Twitter in terms of daily users last month; now it looks like that has trickled through to its valuation. The photo-sharing app has been valued at $35bn by Citi analyst Mark May, nearly double the amount he previously estimated. Based on Twitter's current share price, it's worth just over $23bn. [...]
Real Madrid’s Ronaldo beats Barcelona’s Messi with $22.5m endorsements and $143,750 Facebook posts December 1, 2014 Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have once again been pitted against each other in the running for this year’s Ballon d’Or, yet in marketing terms the battle has already been won by the Real Madrid man. Such is the size of Ronaldo’s global fanbase that his average Facebook post is valued at $143,500 (£99,525) according [...]