Facebook, World Bank and OECD Link Up to Gather Data

Facebook is teaming up with the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to pioneer a new way of collecting data, taking the first step on a path to what they hope will be broader, less expensive and more timely insights into the state of the global economy.

The three partners launched a new measure of business sentiment based on questioning companies that use their Facebook pages to connect with customers. Known as the Future of Business Survey, the report has been in testing since February and received responses to 15 queries from a total of 90,000 small and midsize firms across 22 countries. Its first public release shows that those businesses are more optimistic about their prospects than other companies surveyed by more traditional means.