&gt; for every 10 people who gain internet access, about one person is lifted out of poverty<p>That particular number is… shall we say “often” used by Facebook’s PR? (Another way of expressing that comes to mind, but I&#x27;m not sure how to spell &#x27;jackhammer&#x27;).<p>The source is presumably the numbers in there:
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www2.deloitte.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;dam&#x2F;Deloitte&#x2F;uk&#x2F;Documents&#x2F;technology-media-telecommunications&#x2F;deloitte-uk-global-economic-impact-of-facebook.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www2.deloitte.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;dam&#x2F;Deloitte&#x2F;uk&#x2F;Documents&#x2F;t...</a>
matched with the corresponding internet adoption in those countries at the same time. The parallel is discutable, expressly so.<p>Full disclosure:
I tried and wasn’t able to match those numbers myself (with internal ressources, when I was working for Fb); I would strongly encourage anyone curious to go through the methodology notes: there are many things that deserves to be discussed around equality, literacy, institutional change. Basically, things that are looked at independently by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and the Society for Institutional &amp; Organizational Economics (SIOE, formerly ISNIE). Neither institution have been involved in that estimation as far as I can tell — and they would have tremendous impact on the nuanced understanding of those forces once they do.<p>I believe that Facebook can have a dramatic impact on emerging markets, especially with their advertising platform; I know personally who works on measuring that, and I know it is too early to have a proper macroeconomic estimation — but the impact should be very encouraging: there are many places where you cannot grow your business easily.<p>In the meantime, I would take that argument as:
Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook, Internet.org and internet access in general to lift people out of poverty and into jobs. That means that arguments that argue against his efforts that involve negative effects less than a tenth of “being about to feed their family” will seem quaint to him. Measuring all impacts into orders of magnitude like that can seem a heartless exercice to many, but should not feel foreign to a regular reader of HackerNews.<p>On the other hand, this also means that efforts that connect internet technology with finding or creating jobs should have MZ’s undying support (modulo a possible ad fee).<p>What I believe is more interesting are things like:
Does Internet favour local commerce or international transactions? (Unclear)
Are devices and platform used for business similar to those used for personal transaction? (Apparently, yes.)
Will West Africa still be ruled by Mama Benz&#x27;s, even with widespread adoption the smartphone? (Three forces cannot be stopped in this universe: Death, taxes and Mama Benz&#x27;s dressing up on Sunday. Samsung better adapt.)