Facebook brings £2.2bn to the UK economy

Facebook has released figures that prove it contributes substantially to the UK economy, supplying £2.2bn a year and generating 35,200 jobs.

The social networking site commissioned the study through Deloitte. Speaking at the DLD conference in Munich yesterday (January 24), Facebook produced these results.

The Deloitte study examined how the site made a direct impact on the UK economy – such as through the wages its pays, taxes and profits – as well as economic impacts that were more circuitous, The Guardian gives examples such as through app development and reaching audiences through Facebook business pages.

Breaking it down, nearly £500m of the proposed £2.2bn is down to app development, supporting 7,500 jobs alone, creating a small app economy.

Furthermore the Deloitte study refers to an increase in technology and broadband sales. The results of this can be traced back to Facebook’s popularity, which is generating £550m in sales and keeping 8,800 UK citizens in work.

The remainder of this overall figure, £1.14bn, accounts for the benefits that Facebook offers smaller businesses, enabling them to reach out to potential customers through marketing on fan pages. The study refers to this as “business partition effects” and it is responsible for 18,400 UK employment positions.

Speaking at the DLD conference, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer said "Today's report shows that Facebook is about a lot more than sharing pictures or keeping up with friends. Increasingly, social media means growth and jobs. Social media is proving particularly valuable for small- and medium-sized businesses, which form the backbone of the European economy."

Even so, Sandberg stressed that in these times of austerity even more support, training and funding must be available in order for social networks to continue to be a platform of growth and development to benefit the nation’s economy

The Guardian noted that Sandberg also revealed that the company would offer £4.2m “ad credits,” this will pay for advertising space on the site for small businesses. This will also go towards helping 50,000 companies in the European Union.

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