Facebook’s money machine posts $4.99bn profits – an annotated infographic

While #DeleteFacebook has been trending strongly on the internet for a couple of weeks since the Cambridge Analytica personal data-raping scandal broke, the ensuing fallout doesn’t appear to have immediately impacted upon Facebook’s bottom line. The social media piranha/pariah has reported a gargantuan 63 per cent increase in profits in the first quarter of 2018, with 2.2 billion monthly active users – up 13 per cent year on year. The improper handling of data of 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica did nothing to stop the social media site posting $4.99 billion in quarterly net income on sales of … Continue reading Facebook’s money machine posts $4.99bn profits – an annotated infographic

Zuckerberg apologises for #Facebook #Cambridge Analytica scandal in written testimony

Before his much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has provided written testimony to Congress in which he apologises for failing to prevent the collection of tens of millions of users’ personal data by a data analytics company. Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear before a joint US congressional hearing after admitting that up to 87 million users may have had their data improperly utilised by Cambridge Analytica to build election voter profiles. The data-mining scandal is exacerbated by the vast amounts of money Facebook is making from its billions of users around the world. The public … Continue reading Zuckerberg apologises for #Facebook #Cambridge Analytica scandal in written testimony

How #Facebook was weaponised by #CambridgeAnalytica – an annotated infographic

How Facebook was weaponised The surveillance scandal of Cambridge Analytica use of Facebook data to help the Donald Trump campaign win in the 2016 election began three years earlier with a scientific paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study by Michal Kosinski of Stanford, David Stillwell of the University of Cambridge and colleagues involved 58,466 adult American users of Facebook. Subjects provided information about themselves and took a standard test to classify their personalities in five broad categories: degree of openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism or OCEAN. The researchers then correlated the “big … Continue reading How #Facebook was weaponised by #CambridgeAnalytica – an annotated infographic

#Facebook buys Oculus Rift – #Minecraft creator abandons VR plans immediately – an annotated infographic

While Facebook’s acquisition of virtual reality (VR) headset developers Oculus has been hailed as a significant win for the tyrannical social networking behemoth, an equally significant PR besmirching of this coup was landed on it by the developer of the popular construction game Minecraft. On hearing the news from Big Blue HQ, Markus ‘Notch’ Persson announced he was immediately cancelling his plans to develop an Oculus Rift version of Minecraft. The simple reason? One that may be familiar to millions of social networking followers: “Facebook creeps me out”, Persson tweeted. Genius. It’s not only Persson that Facebook’s news has disappointed. … Continue reading #Facebook buys Oculus Rift – #Minecraft creator abandons VR plans immediately – an annotated infographic

Facebook turns 10 – the history and the future – two infographics

In a post that echoes the main reason Facebook became so popular in the first place, everyone else is talking about Facebook’s 10th birthday so we will, too. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, eh? We have two infographics for you today, courtesy of Mobiles.co.uk: the rise of Facebook and the future of Facebook. And if you’re still a lover of everything Facebook after all these years, we invite you to be E&T’s friend on Facebook, Like us, poke us, write on our wall or do whatever new expression of virtual contact Facebook comes up with in the future. … Continue reading Facebook turns 10 – the history and the future – two infographics

Facebook share price IPO – an annotated graphic

Aside from a salutary lesson in investing in something intangible, in something that doesn’t actually exist – i.e. investing in digital “air” – the continuing slide of Facebook’s share price is also an illuminating glimpse in to the nefarious world of high finance, wherein the efficacy or otherwise of your product or service is almost an irrelevance, its future prosperity and stability inexorably tied to the whims and proclivities of a worldwide network of financially cavalier gamblers. Ah well, Zuckerberg has had a pretty good ride thus far and still isn’t short of a few quid today, regardless of having … Continue reading Facebook share price IPO – an annotated graphic

Facebook IPO – an annotated graphic

In the run-up to Facebook’s public offering, all kinds of facts and figures are flying around. This graphic serves to illustrate who owns what when it comes to the social chit-chat behemoth. As for its anticipated final valuation… $100 billion? Seriously? Far be it from us to be so cynical, but we can’t help feeling that this valuation has been applied by people slathering at the mouth at the prospect of  being made extremely wealthy by Facebook’s flotation. Honestly, it’s hard to escape the notion that people make this stuff up as they go along. What is the point of … Continue reading Facebook IPO – an annotated graphic

Facebook IPO – an annotated graphic

Far be it from us to comment on the true value of Facebook – it being one of those baffling interweb phenomena that doesn’t actually output any kind of tangible product and will almost certainly be considerably less significant in 5-10 years’ time –  but as its much-anticipated IPO draws near, it seemed an opportune moment to reflect on the big numbers attached to a company that has the world’s investors frothing at the mouth for a piece of the action. Our mild cynicism and detached bemusement aside, a company the size of Facebook apparently having a debt of “Zero” … Continue reading Facebook IPO – an annotated graphic