The Republican presidential contenders will focus on the economy tonight during the CNBC presidential debate, and the audience can ask questions of the candidates, review their opening statements and vote for their favorite nominee on Facebook before the event even gets underway.

Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook’s value fell for the third time in a row, to $80 billion, as an auction closed on SharesPost yesterday at $32 per share.

The $75 billion valuation assumes Facebook still has 2.5 billion outstanding shares.

The previous auction had closed at $32.10 per share, valuing the company at $82.25 billion in late September.

And the auction before that finished at $33 per share, ending what had been a plateau at $35 a share for three auctions in a row.

So far this descent seems more like a correction in the price rather than a selloff — settling down a bit now can prevent a bigger drop in price later.

Supporting this interpretation of the last three transactions: Facebook’s revenues continue to surge, at a pace that could at least double this year, and that trend may keep the company’s stock price from plunging too far down.

We’re curious to hear what you think the pattern in the last three transactions might bode for the stock in the months ahead: Is this a correction or the beginning of a bigger selloff?

And here’s what SharesPost said about the transaction in an email to members today:

We are writing SharesPost members like you who indicated they would like to occasionally receive news from SharesPost.

SharesPost’s affiliated broker-dealer completed its auction of 70,000 shares of the Class B Common Stock of Facebook, Inc. on October 26th. A clearing price of $32.00 was established at the auction. Members submitting Qualifying Bids at or above the clearing price will be contacted shortly with instructions on next steps for completing this transaction.

SharesPost members who wish to be informed of and be eligible to participate in future auctions of private company securities must first be qualified by our affiliated broker-dealer as an accredited investor under the securities laws. To get qualified, please click on the green button below. We look forward to serving you at SharesPost in the future.

Members of the Occupy Movement believe that Facebook is deliberately censoring their posts, in what seems like an online parallel to the arrests of protesters in cities across the country.

Read the rest of this entry »

With President Barack Obama on a bus tour touting his jobs plan this week, Facebook will join a top Obama administration official tomorrow to discuss how a new partnership can help Americans get back to work.

Read the rest of this entry »

While U.S. lawmakers debate how to stimulate employment, Facebook developers have already created 182,000 jobs this year, adding almost $12.2 billion in wages and benefits to the economy.

Read the rest of this entry »

While Facebookers worldwide are lamenting the riots in London, users in the U.S. have been venting about the economy via status updates — we’re seeing these posts go up about once every other second.
Read the rest of this entry »

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner is trying to answer the question on the minds of many Americans about where the jobs are, with a new Facebook application launched this week.
Read the rest of this entry »

People are posting on Facebook about nationwide gas boycotts — one occurring tomorrow and another on May 15 — at an increasing pace.
Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that a friend of mine, Adam Conner, had posted a link to the Facebook Lexicon which was searching for the term “laid off”. The results are impressive in that it shows a steep increase in the occurrence of the phrase starting in September and continuing to peak now. While these are some depressing statistics, it illustrates how Facebook can be used to produce valuable research.
Read the rest of this entry »