Yesterday Facebook announced the results of a new report which highlighted that the social media giant contributes £2.2bn to the UK economy annually. The study was carried out by Deloitte and commissioned by Facebook and included examining both the direct and indirect impact Facebook has to the UK’s GDP.
According to the report, in the UK Facebook supports in excess of 32,000 jobs and makes a significant direct contribution in terms of tax, profits and wages. It was however the indirect impact that was of more interest. The study claimed that Facebook has been responsible for the development of an “app economy” which generates approximately £550m and employs 7,500 people alone.
Similarly, the study also presented “business participation effects,” described as the value that small businesses gain from launching Facebook pages and the subsequent benefits they extrude from growth. Deloitte estimated this at a value of £1.14bn to the UK economy and assigned the supporting of 18,400 jobs to business participation effects.
Speaking at the DLD Conference in Munich, Facebook Chief Operating Officer said the report showed that “Increasingly social media means growth and jobs and is proving particularly valuable to small and medium sized companies.”
