Facebook Inc (FB) Weekend News: $14B Opportunity, Compulsive Users, ‘Facebank’ & More

Editor’s Note: Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)

Wiring the planet could be a $14 billion opportunity for Facebook (The Washington Post)
Mark Zuckerberg recently embarked on a laudable, altruistic mission to bring Internet to the 5 billion people in the world who don’t have it. But here’s what the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) CEO’s white paper didn’t tell you: If 5 billion new people got online, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) could make in the ballpark of $3.5 billion in the first quarter.

Do You Check Facebook Compulsively? Here’s a Solution That Will Shock You. (Slate)
You probably know the feeling: You’re staring at some spreadsheet on your computer screen, your eyes begin to glaze, and you involuntarily scan your bookmarks bar for something—anything—that might offer a moment’s respite from drudgery. For a lot of people, that something often turns out to be Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). And that “moment’s respite” turns out to be the next hour and a half. A pair of Ph.D. students at MIT’s Media Lab, Robert Morris and Dan McDuff, know that feeling too well. So, in classic MIT form, they came up with a hack to keep their social-media impulses under control. They call it the “Pavlov Poke”

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)

Trolls hack Facebook page dedicated to tradie Nicholas Mackenzie (Herald Sun)
A Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) page dedicated to the memory of a tradie who was killed at work has been hacked by crude internet trolls with links to the Ku Klux Klan. Nicholas Mackenzie, 21, plunged eight metres to his death on a Caulfield South building site last week. Almost 1400 people signed up to the ‘In Loving Memory of Nicholas Mackenzie’ Facebook page that was set up, leaving loving tributes in memory of the popular apprentice.

The Future of Banking: Could Facebook Become Facebank? (The Motley Fool)
In this segment of The Motley Fool’s financials-focused show, Where the Money Is, analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson discuss some of their favorite Tweets of the day. Among the topics covered are the future of banking and the race for the next Fed chairman. Spefically, the duo discusses what could prevent today’s tech giants from disrupting the banking industry and becoming the center of consumers’ social and financial lives. While regulatory hoops surrounding the banking sector could hinder the transformation, the potential convenience and efficiency available to the average consumer may ultimately trump the roadblocks.

Zuckerberg’s Internet Vision Sure Likes Facebook (Bloomberg)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg is thinking big about how to increase Internet access in the developing world. That’s an ambitious and laudable goal. Incidentally, it could also be very profitable for Zuckerberg’s company. This week, Facebook and a few other companies announced a partnership, Internet.org, with plans to expand access “to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected.” They want to make it cheaper to get online, improve the efficiency of data usage and encourage business models that can help poorer consumers connect more easily.