1 Half of online world use Facebook (Katie Hope on
BBC) Half the world's estimated online population now check into social
networking giant Facebook at least once a month. Facebook said the number of
people who check into the social network at least monthly grew 13% to 1.49
billion in the three months to the end of June.
The number is equal to half of the estimated three
billion people who use the internet worldwide. Of those users, it said well
over half, 65%, were now accessing Facebook daily. The rise in monthly active
users helped drive second quarter revenue up 39% year-on-year to $4.04bn. Mobile
advertising revenue was the biggest factor, accounting for more than three
quarters of the total.
In the US, the company said people were now spending
more than one out of every five minutes on their smartphones on Facebook. "But
as well as keeping an eye on the short term gains they're also keeping an eye
on the long term so they're future proofing themselves - it's clear this is an
organisational imperative," Forrester analyst Erna Alfred Liousas said.
Facebook said that costs and expenditures for the
quarter had surged by 82% to a hefty $2.8bn. As a result, net income fell 9.1%
to $719m - equal to 25 cents a share - but the firm said if various expenses
were excluded earnings would have been 50 cents a share.
Facebook also highlighted the increasing importance
of video, saying that usage continued to grow. And it said it would start
selling its Oculus Rift 3D headset in the first three months of next year. "3D
content is the obvious next thing after video. Video will be huge, gaming will
be huge. Once you start to get a critical mass we can get a social app which we
are more specialised in," said Mr Zuckerberg.
2 England bankruptcies lowest in 15 years (Patrick Collinson
in The Guardian) Just one person was made bankrupt in the City of London in
2014, compared to 101 in Blackpool, according to figures from the Insolvency
Service which reveal a deep north-south divide in debt problems.
The total number of personal bankruptcies in England
and Wales peaked during the financial crisis in 2009, but has fallen
dramatically and now stands at the lowest level for 15 years. Part of the
reason is that individuals are opting for other forms of insolvency – such as
individual voluntary arrangements [IVAs] and debt relief orders [DROs]. These
have fallen from the peak seen in 2009, but are still nearly three times the
rate in 2000.
Blackpool council said 2014 was a good year for the
town’s tourist trade, but acknowledged the deep financial problems faced by
many residents. “We are one of the most economically deprived areas in the UK
so perhaps it’s not that suprising we have a high level of personal
insolvencies. Studies have also shown that Blackpool has been among the towns hardest
hit by government cuts.”
Nationally, debt advisers are warning that interest
rate rises and the loss of tax credits is likely to see the downward trend in
insolvencies since 2009 go into reverse. Jane Tully of the Money Advice Trust, said:
“This steady downward trend in insolvencies is welcome news. We must be
mindful, however, of what lies ahead. Household debt is forecast to pass its
pre-recession peak of 169% of household incomes in 2020. We are concerned that
many will turn to credit to plug gaps in their budgets.”
3 Whitney Houston and virtual heir apparents
(Khaleej Times) With the untimely and unfortunate death of Bobbi Kristina Brown
- the late Whitney Houston's daughter - there is widespread speculation on what
will happen to Houston's financial 'legacy': her life's earnings, her
properties - that would have normally been passed on to her daughter. With
Bobbi Kristina dead at 22, the field has been left wide open.
Who will inherit Whitney Houston's vast fortune?
It's turned out to be a million-dollar question. It is ironical that on the
same day Facebook introduced its legacy feature in the UK; it's now gone live,
and millions of Facebook users can now nominate an 'inheritor'.
We've all heard of apps that continue to tweet your
train of thoughts after you're dead and gone - and it sounded somewhat odd,
even morbid, that you could pretend to live on virtually. But what Facebook is
doing is creating a property out of its page (the legacy feature will soon be a
worldwide phenomenon); it's almost like having a piece of real estate with your
personal touches (and possessions) in place, and you are, in turn,
"willing" it to who you consider your most worthy inheritor: the one
who will take forward your vision.
Although it may seem like overarching ambition on
Zuckerberg's part to assume his brand can be this valuable, Netizens are
excited at the prospect. Some are being made to feel important that this is yet
another feather in their caps, one that can be "passed on"; and some
are made to feel equally important that they stand to inherit something so
virtually valuable.
And there is bound to be a smaller percentage of
Facebook users who will perhaps get creeped out at the prospect of their social
media page being used as a goldmine. Here too, the field is wide open, and as
Facebook would say, more comments are awaited.
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