According to a report by the independent research board Deloitte, Facebook could be contributing up to €2.6bn (billion) to the UK GDP. Deloitte is a brand for many industry professionals and economists to collaborate to provide clients with audit, market consulting, and financial advisory and tax services, making them more than qualified to produce such a detailed report about the market effects of Facebook.
According to the study, Facebook could be worth as much as €2.6bn to the UK economy with a variety of channels that affect the market in different ways. In times of a struggling economy, it is innovation like Facebook that makes it easier got businesses to generate revenue by advertising their business for free by creating a Facebook page. This also allows them to create a dialogue between the business and their customers in a way that has never been possible before.
Revenues of €15.3bn
On a wider scale, the report also estimates that the revenue generated by Facebook for the 27 countries of the European Union is close to €15.3bn. Across the continent, Deloitte estimates that this work supports around 232,000 jobs making the careers available to those who work with Facebook almost a legitimate industry in itself.
The economic impact of Facebook can be separated into two different channels for generating revenue. There is the narrow impact of the company, involving such things as: Facebook’s taxes on its profit and the wages of their employees. This narrow impact equates for €210 million across the EU and approximately 3,200 jobs. However, this pales in comparison to the economic impact of the broad effect of the company which is responsible for a huge €15.1 billion of the total impact on the EU economy. This massive amount of revenue has been generated by the businesses that can increase their awareness with fan pages and adverts, the direct impact of increased sales of electronic devices to access the site, such as smart-phones, as well as revenue generated by products that exist solely on Facebook’s platform such as successful Apps like Farmville.
Investing in Small Business
Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said “[social media is] a bright spot in challenging times”. This reputation as a bright spot looks set to continue as Facebook shows its willingness to help small businesses grow by investing 4.2 million pounds of advertising credits to help 50,000 small businesses across Europe.
Director of Operations for British Chambers of Commerce, David Richards said “Small businesses are keen to learn how they can use Facebook to maximise growth, even in these difficult times”. With so much revenue and consumer interest being generated through social media, more companies are changing their business to have a more active online presence in the today’s market.
