Facebook announces first five US cities for Community Boost program

Having announced the Facebook Community Boost program in November, the US social media giant has revealed the first five cities that will benefit from the program:

• St. Louis, Missouri: March 26 – 30
• Houston, Texas: April 3 – 6
• Albuquerque, New Mexico: April 30 – May 4
• Greenville, South Carolina: May 29 – June 1
• Des Moines, Iowa: June 4 – 8

Community Boost looks to help small US firms succeed, particularly by equipping more people with digital skills that are needed in the evolving economy, with the digital skills gap growing wider by the day.

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According to Facebook, currently 57% of small businesses said that a lack of familiarity with the digital tools available to them is a key challenge, whilst more than half of US companies view the cost of internet services as a constraint when expanding their online presence.

It is statistics like these that Facebook is looking to reduce with its new program by educating small firms about the options available to them.

“To make sure these programs fully benefit each community, we’re working with Morning Consult to survey business managers and people in search of skills and work in each city we plan to visit,” said Dan Levy, Vice President, Global Small Business, Facebook. “We want to find out what digital skills would be most valuable and then build programs accordingly.”