back to article SO. Which IS more important to humanity: Facebook, or Portugal?

The Register, it would seem, has ruffled the feathers of some sensitive Portuguese folk by merely reporting the, er, facts as presented to us by consultancy outfit Deloitte, which – having been paid by Mark Zuckerberg's company – claimed that Facebook's global economic value was $227bn (stop sniggering at the back). Naturally …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Deloitte?

    Didn't they used to go by the name Deloitte and Twat (or something like that)?

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: Deloitte?

      Toilette & Douche, maybe?

      1. Mark 85
        Coat

        Re: Deloitte?

        We called them Diddle & Douche, cause when they showed up either someone or something was going to get screwed.

    2. maffski

      Re: Deloitte?

      I can't understand why people still pay any attention to them. I mean, 'Groove is in the heart' was OK, but what have they done since?

      1. getHandle

        Re: Deloitte?

        Thanks for that - "Groove is in the heart" will be going round my head for the rest of the day now!

    3. e^iπ+1=0

      Re: Deloitte?

      Deloitte was initially just an anagram of toileted, and used as code when a business was deemed to be on the ropes. The rest is history.

  2. Sir Sham Cad

    Yeah but...

    Cristiano Ronaldo. So no.

    Hmm, Peri-Peri. So yes.

    Wait... Super Bock. So yes.

    Sod it, can I change my vote?

    1. Andre Carneiro

      Re: Yeah but...

      Super Bock....... <droooooool>

  3. DavCrav

    Wait. You are saying that Facebook has a positive impact on GDP? I find that hard to believe.

  4. Chris Hawkins

    Ruffled Feathers

    "...has ruffled the feathers of some sensitive Portuguese folk....."

    Problem is I'm not Portuguese, but I am a EuroBrit (Not EWEKIP) living here and have known the country for decades. Its a much richer environment than Zuckerworld....

    I am sensitive about this issue, but my feathers are more of the TUX variety owing to living 90% of the time in a rarified Pengunitis-infected environment. XFSEE!!

    1. Chris G

      Re: Ruffled Feathers

      My brother has a house in Portugal, I have a number of Portugese friends, I drink Portugese wines (recommended) and think the country is beautiful.

      Farcebook is a place where sad people go to be sad.

      Easy vote.

      1. Bucky 2
        Happy

        Re: Ruffled Feathers

        I'm not sure I agree that Facebook is only full of sad people.

        I AM sure that Portugal is absolutely marvelous, though.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brazil

    Since Facebook are counting 'aided in the creation of' within their figures, can Portugal count former colonies?

    1. e^iπ+1=0

      Re: Brazil

      "can Portugal count former colonies?"

      Hell yeah. Also include Equatorial Guinea for the oil, and being in sub-Saharan Africa.

  6. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Megaphone

    What about ISRAEL?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      No-one likes Israel?

  7. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Keep looking in the mirror

    It's very handy when you're backpedalling.

    (and so far as FB's value goes, considering the massive number of "workers" - maybe "employees" would be a better word - who seem to spend all their time on it, shouldn't FB's global economic value be negative $227Bn?)

  8. theOtherJT Silver badge

    Higher dollar value != more important.

    Perfect example of the most damaging and stupid line of thought of our times.

  9. Happy_Jack

    Facebook FTW

    I voted for Facebook, at least I can understand it. Maybe the Portuguese could dumb down their culture and language a bit to level the playing field?

  10. Steve Knox

    Importance...

    is not necessarily positive. I'm sure Portugal's lovely, but the dangers of Facebook are too great to downplay...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Everyone knows..

    Come on guys, everyone knows that it's a simple fact that Facebook is THE most important thing in the world!

    Think of it this way, how else would I, your boss, know what you do in your time off? or how would I, your government know what you plan to do next week? or how would I, your wife/husbend know that you are chatting up a new guy/gal on facebook?

    Put simply, we need facebook it is a vital communication tool which benefits everybody equally. Without bookface we would be still living in the dark ages.

    Facebook is THE single most important thing of all time!

    Besides, who gives a darn about some silly little country when we have Facebook?

    In the words of Metallica, "Sad but true".

    PS: Keep clicking those ads! kthxbye.

  12. Zog_but_not_the_first
    WTF?

    Eh?

    There are votes for Facebook?

    {shakes head} So many trolls, so many...

  13. Elfo74

    Are you sure?

    Hmmm a 10 year old company claims to be more important than a 872 year old country...

    I, for one, am sure that one of them will still be here 100 years from now ;-)

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Are you sure?

      Yeah, in 100 years the United States of Europe* Administrative Area 13, formerly known as Portugal to those old enough to remember.

      *Sponsored by Faceoogle.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Are you sure?

        "Yeah, in 100 years the United States of Europe* Administrative Area 13, formerly known as Portugal to those old enough to remember."

        Yeah, in 100 years the United States of Europe* Administrative Area 13, formerly known as Portugal to those old enough to remember.( all references. having been removed from the interwebs)

  14. Pen-y-gors

    A bit unfair

    To compare GDP (annual income) with total asset 'value' - if you added up the value of Portugal it's a lot more than FB.

    But it's interesting to see how many countries have a lower GDP than say, Google. Income 2012 was $50 Billion, which is more than the GDP of about 130 countries! Facebook income last year was about $10 billion which is more than the GDP of about 70 countries (and doesn't include Portugal - a lovely place)

    1. Mark 85

      Re: A bit unfair

      I agree but PR spin is about share value in this case. Someone wants to be worth a few more billions.

    2. J P

      Re: A bit unfair

      I tried matching company turnovers to GDPs not long back using wikipedia - while the figures aren't directly comparable, let alone reliable, it was the quickest way to get a feel for a hunch/concern I have that we now have corporate bodies (MNCs, multinationals, call them what you like) which have more economic power than some countries, aka tax jurisdictions. (Someone has also done a similar exercise mapping English counties to African countries - the most heartbreaking statistic I know is that economically we seem to put the same value on DRC (area 905k square miles, pop'n 77m) as we do Devon (area 2.5k square miles, pop'n 750k). )

      Thinking about companies again, if taxes exist for the good of society, but the corporate body does not consider itself a part of that society, can we be surprised when the corporate bodies start to operate in their own, rather than the society/tax jurisdiction's interests? Especially if they are "bigger" than the tax jurisdiction...

  15. Bobby Omelette

    Reg - Why are you asking this?

    Why publish this ...

    SO. Which is more important to humanity: Facebook, or Portugal? (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/20/which_is_more_important_to_humanity_facebook_or_portugal/)

    when you've also published this by the same author ...

    Facebook is MORE IMPORTANT to humanity than PORTUGAL (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/20/facebook_global_economic_value_is_227_billion_dollars_claims_deloitte/)

    ?

    1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Reg - Why are you asking this?

      My crystal ball tells me that you jumped right to the comments to amaze us with your discovery without bothering to read the fscking article first... I am correct, am I not?

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Reg - Why are you asking this?

      Because one can never praise the power of 227 BILLION USD enough!

      (This sadly is actually the amount of "reconstruction effort" put into IraqThe Caliphate; most of that didn't end up where expected I reckon)

  16. Vulch

    Ask again when Facebook starts exporting decent fortified wine...

    1. getHandle

      Lots of their non-fortified stuff is pretty damn good as well, hic!

  17. Mitoo Bobsworth

    Sad number game

    Wherever there is a singular focus on money as a primary measure of value, everyone loses.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Sad number game

      I disagree, but the number must

      a) Have been expressed not in monopoly money

      b) Not be pulled out of someone's arse and embiggened come hell or high water

      At the end of the day, the number WILL inform an economic decision to do X instead of Y. It's like a p(success)

  18. wolfetone Silver badge

    If I were Zuckerberg

    I'd buy Portgual, then open source it.

    Imagine it, free wine.

  19. Soap Distant

    Some of you voted for Facebook??!

    I can only assume you're on a laggy connection and you slipped. I hope. IMO, Facebook isn't worth the steam from one of my turds. is probably a net drain on the world's economic output with all the time folk waste on there...

    SD

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Option C?

    Where's Option C? "Portugal, my socks and everything else."

  21. Teiwaz

    Pretty obvious response overall...(so far)

    Might as well have popped a poll into the Conservative offices on the lines of more powers (but not money) to the security services, for all the expected answer was to be.

    (minus the percentage of the flippant, the jokers and the clearly insane) the denizens of these forums are hardly likely to be the most avid adherents to the church of facebook.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You are confusing annual income and value. Hopefully Deloitte wasn't that dumb.

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Hopefully Deloitte wasn't that dumb.

      Such optimism!

  23. Gannon (J.) Dick

    If you want to put Zuck in his place, pull down the Eiffel Tower

    Here's how it goes ...

    Every time you give a snipit of personal information to Zuck he is going to try to match it to other snipits. It's not the crime, friends, it's the trial.

    If Zuck finds you guilty of being who you say you are, then you have been found guilty before your trial. This is an old philosophical friction between English Common Law and the Napoleonic Code. It turns out that neither ECL or NC had any intention, no way, no how, of codifying a presumption of guilt. Full Stop. But there was a question of excessive remand - can Zuck lock you in Facebook and throw away the key ? Zuck wants this pressing question decided no time soon, but certainly not before Waterloo is refought and and the video posted for all to see. Zuck is a firm believer in Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Speech.

    In the meantime, you're guilty of being you because English Common Law and the Napoleonic Code can't make up their minds. EU, are you buying this nonsense ? I would hope that Portugal isn't.

    The "right to be forgotten" is an appeal of a completely bogus "guilty" verdict by a self-appointed judge.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Personally.....

    I know that at least if I use Facebook I wont catch one of a myriad of illnesses from untreated water.

    Portugal, where 70% of the water supply doesn't conform to the basic water hygiene standards for human consumption.

    1. Gannon (J.) Dick
      Thumb Down

      Re: Personally.....

      Drinking untreated Kool-Aide, way way better.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Personally.....

      Must be an American - I have never had issues drinking the water in Portugal.

      Another +1 for Portugal - They hate the Germans and wont allow them to steal all the pool chairs/loungers by sneaking down at dawn and draping towels over them.

      - 1,000,000,000 for the EU - SuperBock was 9p a bottle the year before joining the EU - it was 59p the year after joining !!!!!

      1. Gannon (J.) Dick
        Pint

        Re: Personally.....

        +1 I am an American and have never had issues with North, Central or South American beer. My countrymen who want to drink water should know the risks. As that great American philosopher W.C.Fields said, "Never drink water, fish fuck in it."

        +1 x -1,000,000,000 for the EU. I never realized you could buy just one bottle. You've two hands, it doesn't seem right, somehow. That said, the European Space Program would be a lot easier to manage if the citizens in the former Portugese colony of Brazil would just stop drinking up all the rocket fuel (Cachaça).

  25. veti Silver badge

    Comparing apples to iPods

    But the 'value' of a country is far greater than its GDP. GDP, in so far as it's anything, is the country's annual turnover, not its "total value". The equivalent figure for Facebook would be its annual turnover, which is a shade under $8 billion.

    So Facebook is worth about 1/30 of a Portugal (what's that in Waleses?)

  26. Nunya Biznas
    Thumb Up

    Awww

    Where is the like button?!?

  27. Roj Blake Silver badge

    Apples & Oranges

    it's not really valid to compare net worth with GDP.

    The nearest equivalent to a country's GDP is a company's turnover.

  28. FrankRho
    Childcatcher

    Oh, come on!

    On FB you cannot see nipples and even breastfeeding is a no-no, while it's ok to have beheading videos autoplaying all the time.

    In Portugal just go to the beach and be happy. Beheading, on the other hand, is not so popular.

    So, FB over Portugal?! Seriously?!

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