DATASETS
Business Activity Trends
Business Activity Trends measure how businesses are affected by crisis events through their rate of posting on Facebook.
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Key Features
Real time business insights
This dataset includes the aggregate number of public posts on Facebook Business Pages as compared to pre-crisis levels.Collaborative methodology
This dataset was developed in collaboration with three researchers from the University of Bristol based on their method to measure recovery of small businesses after natural hazard events.Privacy
We aggregate the volume of posts and visits to a regional level and only include proportional changes in posting.
Methodology
Step 1: Count public posts and visits
We analyze the posting activity by administrators of Facebook business pages and business visits before and after a crisis event. All data shared with partners is de-identified and aggregated at administrative levels.Step 2: Compare activity to pre-crisis levels
We compare post-crisis posting activity to a baseline distribution for that page in the year prior to the crisis.Step 3: Produce outputs
We aggregate these comparisons daily for each US county or global equivalent, grouping business pages by economic sector. The final output is an average across pages, similar to a percent change.RESOURCES
Using Business Activity Trends
The COVID-19 version of Business Activity Trends is available publicly on Humanitarian Data Exchange below. Ongoing crisis versions of Business Activity Trends are available to nonprofits and researchers who sign data sharing agreements.
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