Media darling and social mega-destination Facebook recently rolled out their COO Sheryl Sandberg at the DLD Conference in Munich to wax lyrical about the economic benefits Facebook is bringing to Europe. Among other titbits, Sandberg claimed that Facebook is now worth around £2 billion the UK economy and supports around 32,000 jobs – with 7,500 of those being directly related to developing apps for the social platform.
To entice the UK’s freelancers, contractors and small businesses into the Facebook ecosystem the firm has organised a “Facebook for Business” roadshow in conjunction with the British Chambers of Commerce to help SMEs understand the benefits of their ad platform over other online advertisers such as Google. Facebook will also be offering €100 (around £80) of advertising credits to entice small businesses to get started.
The giveaway, which Facebook is calling “Ad Boost”, will total €5 million – around half the amount they offered during a similar push in the US (which seems somewhat disingenuous given the the Eurozone has a larger GDP than the US), and Facebook hopes to involve 50,000 small businesses across Europe.
Sandberg said of the scheme:
“We need to make sure that we invest in the right education, training, technology and networks so that social media can continue to drive innovation and economic growth.”
