Facebook 'App Economy' creates 182,000 US jobs: study

The logo of social networking website 'Facebook' is displayed on a computer screen
The logo of social networking website 'Facebook' is displayed on a computer screen in London in 2007. The ecosystem of applications built for Facebook has created at least 182,000 jobs and contributes billions of dollars in wages and benefits to the US economy, according to a study published Monday.

The ecosystem of applications built for Facebook has created at least 182,000 jobs and contributes billions of dollars in wages and benefits to the US economy, according to a study published Monday.

The study by the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business said using "more aggressive estimates" the Facebook "App Economy" has created a total of 235,644 .

It has contributed between $12.19 billion and $15.71 billion in and benefits to the US economy this year, the study said.

"Our findings confirm that social media platforms have created a thriving new industry," said Il-Horn Hann, co-director of Smith's Center for , Technology, and Strategy.

"As Facebook and other platforms grow, we will continue to see job growth and the ripple effects of these advances in the US economy," Hann said.

The Palo Alto, California-based Facebook has more than 750 million members around the world and tens of thousands of applications have been developed by third parties to run on top of the social network.

Facebook users install 20 million applications a day, the study said.

It said more than 53,000 have been created in that make applications for the Facebook platform.

"The jobs created in the app economy stimulate the creation of additional jobs in other sectors of the US economy," the study said.

"First, jobs are created at businesses that supply app developers."

"Second, jobs are created as a result of household spending based on the income earned by employees at both app developers and businesses supplying app developers."

The study's authors noted that Zynga, the maker of popular games for such as "Mafia Wars" and "Farmville," has over 2,000 employees and an estimated value of $15 billion to $20 billion.

(c) 2011 AFP

Citation: Facebook 'App Economy' creates 182,000 US jobs: study (2011, September 19) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2011-09-facebook-app-economy-jobs.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

CityVille passes FarmVille as most played game on Facebook

0 shares

Feedback to editors