Facebook is 69% male and mostly white

Like many of its Silicon Valley peers, Facebook's workforce and management team is overwhelmingly white and male, according to the social media giant's first diversity report.

Released on Wednesday, the report is the latest in a flurry of voluntary diversity disclosures by high-profile tech firms.

The facts show that 69% of Facebook's global staffers are male. A full 85% of the company's tech workers, and 77% of its management team, are also men.

The company's U.S. workforce is 57% white, 34% Asian, 4% Hispanic and 2% black.

"As these numbers show, we have more work to do -- a lot more," Maxine Williams, Facebook's global head of diversity, said in a statement.

The report shows that while Facebook has women including "Lean In" author Sheryl Sandberg in prominent positions, diversity at the company is roughly in line with rivals including Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn.

There has been renewed focus on the lack of diversity at companies in Silicon Valley in recent months. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has appeared at several annual meetings of tech companies this spring, including Google and Facebook, to urge them to do more to recruit African American and Hispanic workers.

The true scale of the industry's diversity problem is difficult to determine, largely because most major tech companies have closely guarded their data.

Starting in 2011, CNNMoney probed 20 of the most influential U.S. tech firms. Almost all refused to provide numbers on workplace diversity.

When Freedom of Information Act requests were filed by CNNMoney, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google, IBM and Microsoft all successfully petitioned the Department of Labor to exclude their data.

Data collected on five companies -- Cisco, Intel, Dell, eBay and Ingram Micro -- showed a significant gender imbalance in officer and management positions.

At the end of May, Google released a diversity report that showed 70% of its staff is male and 61% is white, while 30% is Asian. Linkedin has also released a diversity report which showed 61% of its staff is male, while 53% is white and 38% is Asian.

Yahoo, one of the most prominent Silicon Valley companies with a female CEO, has a U.S. workforce that is 50% white and 39% Asian. Only 6% are either black or Hispanic.

Williams said that a new "strategic diversity team" launched at Facebook last year has improved hiring and retention for underrepresented groups.

Source:

www.hartfordbusiness.com

Posted by Editorial Team on 6:59 AM in 69% male, Apple, CNNMoney, Google, Hewlett-Packard, LinkedIn, mostly white, overwhelmingly, Silicon Valley peers, Yahoo

Yummy! Google now lets you browse full restaurant menu in search results

If you're hungry and wondering whih restaurant can offer you a delicious, hot meal before you head out, worry not because it's now just a Google search away. Thanks to a new feature implemented into the Google search engine, users can simply type in the command, "show me the menu for", followed by the name of a restaurant to get a list of available menus. 

It's a neat feature, and something that could make it even more difficult for other search engine competitors, such as Bing search and Yahoo search, to imitate effectively. 

"Next time you're planning a brunch or a date night, check to make sure the menu has something to satisfy everyone in your group, without having to browse through several restaurants' websites. Just search Google to show you the menu for the eatery you're considering and you can see it right on the top of your search page-complete with tabs for different parts of the menu (like appetizers, brunch or dinner) and, often, prices-before you make your reservation. Menus are available in the U.S. only for now," said Google on its Google Plus page. 

At the moment, the feature is only available to Google search users in the United States, but it should make it to other markets as soon as Google gathers more information from user activity. Our own tests have revealed that the feature needs a few tweaks before this feature becomes worthwhile. 

With Google now dipping its hands in menu and restaurant search, services and apps such as Yelp and Foursquare might have a serious problem on its hands, especially when this new Google feature improves. It's because many users would find it a lot easier to type in a search query rather than launch an app just to find out what's on the menu. 

For the likes of Foursquare, a move like this could be a good reason for it to strengthen its ties with a larger company, for instance, Microsoft. Already, several rumors have have surfaced that both companies will partner to improve Bing search, and the rumored Cortana search assistant Microsoft is said to be working on. 

News Source: www.techtimes.com

Posted by Editorial Team on 6:02 AM in available menus, Bing, browse, Google, Google search, search results, U.S. only, websites, Yahoo, Yummy!