Subsea World News - ABS Inaugurates Korea Energy Technology ...

Leading classification society ABS officially inaugurated the ABS Korea Energy Technology Center (KETC) in Busan, South Korea, on 19 October 2012.

ABS President and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki joined senior representatives of the Korean shipping and shipbuilding sectors and academia to celebrate the official opening of the ABS KETC, ABS? first global energy center.

Researchers at ABS KETC will work independently and in partnership with local industry, universities and government to develop technology for the offshore and energy industries in Korea. Focus areas will include offshore surface and subsea systems, oil and gas exploration and production, LNG technology, renewable energy development, alternative fuels and environmental efficiency.

KETC, staffed locally by skilled research engineers, will have access to resources at the ABS global technology headquarters in Houston as well as ABS offshore technology centers around the world.

?Korea?s yards are at the forefront of the global shipbuilding industry, and I believe the vision and initiative that have made Korea a leader in the marine industry can be similarly applied in other areas of specialization. ABS wants to join its resources with the drive, energy and technical capabilities of the Korean people,? Wiernicki said.

Investment in research and development is critical to the future of the offshore and energy industries and a priority for ABS, Wiernicki said. ?I am convinced that we will make the best and most rapid progress in R&D by working together ? pooling our knowledge and concentrating our efforts to solve challenges both in Korea and abroad.?

This objective dovetails with the efforts of the Korean Government, which according to Dr. Sang Jick Yoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, is developing offshore energy resources through R&D and investment in human resource. ?In view of this,? he said, ?it is all the more timely that ABS has established the Korea Energy Technology Center in the port city of Busan, which will serve to promote technology development not only in Korea but in Asia more broadly. I expect that KETC will offer a platform for close cooperation and enable us to generate innovative technology?

For Korea, the potential impact of research carried out through KETC will be significant. ?As Newton?s apple changed the world and a small candle light brightens the whole room, I believe the beginning of ABS Korea Technology Center today will lead to positive changes and tremendous results in the shipping, shipbuilding and energy fields beyond our imagination,? said Dr. Kyuho Whang, Chairman of ABS Korea National Committee and President, SK Shipping.

Many local entities will benefit from collaboration with KETC. ?It is the right time to establish the Korea Energy Technology Center, and I believe the goals of the center will be very much welcomed by Korean industries and academia,? said Professor Sang-Rai Cho, President of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea.

?ABS founded the KETC to increase knowledge and advance the development of the latest technology,? said Hoseong Lee, ABS Vice President, Global Korean Business Development. ?We believe the KETC will be valuable in assisting ABS clients in solving their technology challenges and will enable ABS to develop stronger working relationship with Korean firms, local universities and R&D institutes.?

Press Release, October 30, 2012

Source: http://subseaworldnews.com/2012/10/30/abs-inaugurates-korea-energy-technology-center/

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Limitations to the 'revolutionary' findings of online studies

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

'Direct to consumer' research, using data obtained through increasingly popular online communities such as 23andMe, PatientsLikeMe and the Personal Genome Project, has methodological limitations that are known to epidemiological studies, including selection bias, information bias, and confounding. These limitations mean that the results and conclusions of research using these methods need to be interpreted with caution, according to a paper published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Cecile Janssens, PhD, formerly of the Erasmus University Medical Center in The Netherlands and currently research professor of epidemiology in the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, and Peter Kraft, PhD, from the Harvard School of Public Health, argue that the findings of 'direct to consumer' research should be communicated in a way that is understandable, accurate, complete and not misleading. Researchers do often address methodological limitations in their scientific publications, but not on their websites, say the authors.

Studies relying on collections of self-reported data by self-selected participants raise critical questions that require further ethical analysis and public debate ? for example, regarding the provision of adequate consent, the safeguarding of public trust, disclosure of commercial development of research results, and the sale of participants' data to third parties.

"We worry that overstating the conclusions that can be drawn from these resources may impinge on individual autonomy and informed consent," the authors say. "Only a responsible approach with realistic expectations about what can be done with and concluded from the data will benefit science in the long run."

The authors argue that clarity regarding the benefits of research using solicited personal data is particularly important when the data collected are also used for other purposes, such as selling participants' information to pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

"The potential for sharing participants' data with third parties as well as the commercial uses of research findings should be disclosed more explicitly to participants prior to consent," they conclude.

###

Emory University: http://www.emory.edu

Thanks to Emory University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 49 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124758/Limitations_to_the__revolutionary__findings_of_online_studies

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Childhood Obesity Declines In Several States, CitiesYour Health ...

From The Rochester Democrat And Chronicle?..

Nutritional improvements made in the foods served at schools could help reverse the nation?s childhood obesity epidemic, and the first evidence of that is in places that have implemented changes early.

Childhood obesity rates have declined slightly in several cities and states that are tackling the issue including Mississippi, California, New York City, Philadelphia, El Paso and Anchorage, according to two groups that are tracking the trend.

?We?ve had 30 years of increasing rates of obesity, but we might be seeing the turning point for this epidemic,? says pediatrician James Marks, a senior vice president for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which issued a summary report on the topic. One of the foundation?s goals is to reverse childhood obesity in this country.

The gains are pretty small in some communities, but if nothing else they reverse long-building trends of higher obesity rates among kids. ?There are enough communities that have had declines that it shows any community that makes these kinds of changes could see their children get healthier,? Marks says.

Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest,a Washington D.C.-based consumer group, which did its own analysis of the changes, says, ?We are seeing decreases in obesity in places where they are making a concerted effort to address the problem, mostly in schools. They?re not just crossing their fingers and hoping the problem goes away.?

A 2010 law directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update the national nutrition standards for all food served in schools. The standards are designed to improve the health of about 53 million children who attend primary and secondary schools. Kids consume about 30% to 50% of their daily calories while at school.

The changes that went into effect this year mean students are being offered healthier options and slightly fewer calories at lunch, Wootan says.

To read the full story?..Click here

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=5914

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How To Write A Short Story In Five Easy Steps

Stories can be difficult to write. But not impossible. If you follow the following five steps, you will be sure to have a complete story, and with practice, you are sure to generate new and exciting stories that your friends will love.

Step One: Brainstorm Short Story Ideas About Conflict

Stories are all based on conflict. The best use of conflict in a story is a battle that you have experienced yourself.

Examples:

1) fight with a boyfriend or parent or sister or brother,

2) decision over what school to go to,

3) what to do about that dress you bought but didn?t like,

4) how to stop your boss from annoying you

Provide your own list of ideas of traumas you?ve dealt with and learned from. Once you?ve listed them, decide how these conflicts can be unusual, worse, or more annoying.

Step Two: Play Halloween or Dressup to Build Your Character for Your Short Story

Characters are a matter of making someone cooler, nastier, odder than yourself. Decide who your character is and how they will tell the story. Stay with one character observing all the action and telling the tale, it will make the story easier to understand. Then make up the evil other person who is the problem behind the conflict.

Short Story Exercise:

Describe both characters with a timer, give yourself 1-5 minutes for brainstorming how each looks.

Step Three: Decide Where the Short Story Will Occur

Depending on the story you are writing, the setting, or where the story takes place will help pull the reader into the story. When you create short fiction, make the setting as specific as possible. Try to pick an unusual place since most people find stories that are different from others stories of greater interest than the usual run of the mill place.

Examples of places to skip in your short fiction:

1) home

2) restaurants

3) school

4) offices

Examples of place to include in your short fiction:

1) places you visited on vacation

2) places that have caught your eye i.e. odd buildings

3) places that smell good, make odd sounds, made of odd materials

Brainstorm your own list for your short story.

To write science fiction short stories: use planets, stars, spacecraft, asteroids, comets, black holes etc.

To write horror short stories: use any place that causes you terror ? remote, empty, old, forgotten

To write mystery short stories: use any place that looks odd or unusual

To write romance short stories: use any beautiful place or place that makes you feel some emotion

To write thriller short stories: use any place that is dangerous i.e. cliffs or high spots, machinery, hiding spots

Writing Short Fiction Exercise: Write for 1-5 minutes describing this odd place

Step Four: Write Your Short Story

Ignoring all your previous work, but having it in mind, do the following exercise:

1) Write one to three sentences describing your character entering into the setting, use all five senses

2) Write one to three sentences describing the evil character and what they say to start the conflict

3) Write several sentences describing how your character gets away

4) Repeat steps 1-3 in steps where the conflict gets worse each time and or go to a worse place or face a worse villian

5) Write an unexpected conclusion to the conflict?who wins, who loses, what both get as a result of the conflict

Step Five: Edit Your Short Story

To edit your story, make sure you tell how your character feels at every step of the way. The character must feel worse and worse, but at the end, better. The stakes of the conflict have to get worse. The setting must get wilder. Make sure all of your verbs are active. Move important words like dead, mean, etc. to the end of your sentence. Make sure the story fits within the definition of the story length requirements by removing any repeated thoughts or actions.

Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/writing/how-to-write-a-short-story-in-five-easy-steps

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UT needs a medical school: The case for Central Health's ...

Editor's note: CultureMap Austin is proud to partner with?Leadership Austin?? the region's premier provider of civic and community leadership development ? in this series of editorial columns meant to inform Austinites about the upcoming?City of Austin proposition elections?to be held Nov. 6.

This is the first of two articles spelling out arguments for and against the City of Austin's Proposition 1 election on funding the University of Texas Medical School. This article advocates voting yes; the second article, opposing Proposition 1, will be published Thursday.

---

Central Health, the owner of University Medical Center Brackenridge (UTMB), placed Proposition 1 on the ballot to transform the way healthcare is delivered to the poor and uninsured in Travis County. It will ensure more efficient systems and effective healthcare plans. And it will focus on prevention and wellness, on helping those with chronic conditions maintain their health, and on paying for care based on the outcomes for patients.?

Prop 1?s passage will mean improved health care for more of the 200,000 Travis County residents without insurance. It will result in healthier and more productive families, better-utilized clinics by the uninsured and underinsured, more access for mental health treatment and less-crowded emergency rooms that are better able to focus on families and individuals with real emergencies.?

Central Health will procure some of these services through the faculty, medical students and residents at a new Austin medical school ? providing a revenue stream to help cover some of the med school?s costs. Approximately 90 percent of the funding for the medical school will come from UT System, Seton, research grants and other identified funding sources.

Projections show we will need 770 more doctors in Central Texas by 2016 just to keep up with population growth. Already, a lack of physicians who accept Medicaid and Medicare means many of us must wait weeks or months to see a specialist. That leads some families and individuals to travel to other cities to get care.?

And our senior population, of which I am a member, is growing at record rates. Between 2000 and 2010, Travis County had the second fastest growing senior population in the country. And we had the fastest growth rate in the U.S. among baby boomers between the ages of 55 and 64. And, as I?m very aware, people over 65 access health care services twice as much as those under 65.

A new medical school and teaching hospital will create a pipeline of doctors and other health care professionals, trained to work together in teams, who will likely practice in the region after they train here. Studies show that 80 percent of doctors that study and train in Texas remain in Texas to practice medicine ? most within 50 miles of their training site.

Travis County residents also will gain access to cutting-edge treatments developed by medical school faculty through clinical trials. Almost everyone I know has a close friend or family member who has traveled to Houston, Dallas or out of state to receive complex treatments ? like liver transplants ? or for clinical trials that are not available in Austin. Imagine Austin becoming a medical destination for cutting-edge treatment.

With the new medical school and teaching hospital, our region stands to gain 15,000 new permanent jobs and $2 billion in annual economic activity. Those jobs are not just for MDs and PhDs ? 60 percent of them are expected to require less than four-year degrees and they will be spread across many industries.

We can?t forget who Prop 1 is serving ? the uninsured and those most vulnerable in our society. The surprising fact is that almost six in 10 of those folks are employed.?

In an entrepreneurial, creative city like Austin, these are our friends and neighbors ? they live in our neighborhoods, and we probably see them every day. When they become ill, they face impossible choices ? needing health care they can?t begin to afford.

What Prop 1 does not do is build buildings. UT will pay for the bricks and mortar and many operating expenses of the medical school. The Seton Healthcare Family will pay to build a new teaching hospital and to expand the number of residency slots in Central Texas.????

Prop 1 will raise our health care tax by 5 cents ? a nickel ? per $100 valuation. That is approximately $100 a year for a $200,000 home. For the average Travis County property owner, that is less than $9/month.

By accessing federal health care funds ? tapping $1.46 from Washington for every dollar our region raises ? our community can expand the capacity of the healthcare system and catalyze investments in infrastructure and services at a level we?ve previously only imagined. Prop 1 is an investment in our community and in health care for you and your family.

Central Health Tax Ratification Election

PROP. 1: Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $0.129 per $100 valuation in Central Health, also known as the Travis County?Healthcare District, for the 2013 tax year, a rate that exceeds the district?s rollback tax rate. The proposed ad valorem tax rate?exceeds the ad valorem tax rate most recently adopted by the district by $0.05 per $100 valuation; funds will be used for improved healthcare in Travis County, including support for a new medical school consistent with the mission of Central Health, a site for a new teaching hospital, trauma services, specialty medicine such as cancer care, community-wide health clinics,?training for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals, primary care, behavioral and mental healthcare, prevention?and wellness programs, and/or to obtain federal matching funds for healthcare services.

---

Former Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley?was a panelist at the Oct. 10?ENGAGE Breakfast Town Hall?event with KXAN News. The opinions of Leadership Austin alumni and faculty members are their own, and do not represent an official position of the organization.

Source: http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-24-12-13-31-ut-needs-a-medical-school-the-case-for-central-healths-prop-1/

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Holmgren won't rule out return to sideline as coach

The coaching itch never completely left Mike Holmgren, who will walk away from the Cleveland Browns feeling mostly dissatisfied and unfulfilled.

His three years as an NFL executive didn?t go as hoped. And for perhaps the first time in his football life, Holmgren came up short as a leader.

?We did not win enough games,? Holmgren said Tuesday at his farewell news conference in Berea, Ohio. ?I?m hoping the table is set for the future.?

Holmgren was asked if he had one more coaching stint left in him.

?I don?t know,? he said. ?I know this: I learned a lot of things in the last three years. One of the things that I thought I knew and now I?m sure, I do miss the coaching part of it. I really do.?

After being hired by Randy Lerner in December 2009 to fix a dysfunctional franchise, Holmgren won?t complete his five-year contract as team president of the Browns, who now belong to new owner Jimmy Haslam.

Since Holmgren arrived, the Browns are 10-29, a record that pains the 64-year-old former coach who went to the Super Bowl two times with Green Bay and once with Seattle. He arrived in Cleveland with the best intentions, and although he rebuilt the team?s management, repaired broken business relationships and added talent to the roster, Holmgren failed to deliver a winner.

?The record speaks for itself, and ultimately people are judged on how many games you win,? he said.

EXTRA POINTS

With star running back Maurice Jones-Drew likely out for several games, the Jaguars signed running back Keith Toston and waived rookie defensive end Ryan Davis. ? The Redskins released veteran running back Ryan Grant and brought back running back Keiland Williams, who was released by the Lions last week. Williams played for the Redskins in 2010. ? Panthers coach Ron Rivera said Monday?s firing of general manager Marty Hurney sends a succinct message to him and others in the organization that nobody?s job is safe. Rivera said Carolina?s final 10 games are ?an evaluation process,? and he hasn?t ruled out firing assistant coaches or cutting players for underperforming. ? League owners approved the Packers? request for $58 million to help renovate Lambeau Field. ? Buffalo businessman Nicholas Stracick unveiled a proposal to build a $1.4 billion waterfront sports and entertainment facility that would include a 70,000-plus-seat, retractable-roofed stadium to serve as the Bills new home. Bills CEO Russ Brandon said, ?We?re aware of it but have no involvement.?

Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/10/24/2342831/holmgren-wont-rule-out-return.html?storylink=rss

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Texas (and BV Austin) took over Rebel NYC for CMJ ---- pics (Shakey Graves, Robert Elllis, Technicolor Hearts & more)

photos by Chris La Putt

Robert Ellis / Technicolor Hearts/ Shakey Graves

BV Austin, in partnership with The Convoy Group, Regressive Records, Eye in the Sky Collective, Tito's Handmade Vodka, and Mercy hangover prevention, presented a CMJ showcase of Texas bands on Thursday night at Rebel NYC. Here are some pictures from the shindig. They continue below...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BrooklynVeganFeed/~3/Ir7Rh7s7Ygg/texas_and_bv_au.html

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News Summary: ADP making changes to jobs report - San Antonio ...

CHANGE AFOOT: Automatic Data Processing Inc. said Wednesday that it's making some changes to its monthly U.S. employment report. The changes include adding more industry categories, expanding the number of business class sizes to five from three and increasing the sample size used to create the report.

THE SAMPLE: The report is derived from actual payroll data from a subset of ADP's clients in the U.S. ADP doesn't identify which companies are in the subset.

NEW PARTNER: ADP and Macroeconomic Advisers LLC have mutually agreed to stop collaborating on the ADP National Employment Report. ADP said that it will now work with Moody's Analytics.

Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/News-Summary-ADP-making-changes-to-jobs-report-3977605.php

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Season over for Browns LB Scott Fujita

BEREA, Ohio (AP) ? Browns linebacker Scott Fujita will be placed on injured reserve with a neck injury, ending his stormy season.

Fujita, one four players suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for his role in the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal, was inactive the past two games. He last started on Oct. 7 in a game against the New York Giants. Browns coach Pat Shurmur does not know if Fujita, an 11-year veteran and one of the league's most informed players, will retire.

The 33-year-old Fujita had neck surgery in college.

Fujita had his three-game suspension reduced to one by Goodell. However, Fujita was angered by a letter he received from the commissioner and harshly criticized Goodell for his handling of the Saints' situation and questioned his track record on player safety.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/season-over-browns-lb-scott-fujita-163457189--nfl.html

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M. Golf. This Week in Michigan Men's Golf

Oct. 24, 2012

? Social Media: Facebook | Twitter

THIS WEEK
Mon-Tue., Oct. 29-30 -- at the Stanford Classic (Pebble Beach, Calif.)
No Live Scoring

Next on the Tee
The University of Michigan men's golf team will close its fall season with a rare match-play event as the Wolverines travel to Pebble Beach, Calif., Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 29-30) for the Stanford Classic at Cypress Point. Featuring an eight-team field, the event will feature two days of match play format golf, including best ball, foursome and singles. U-M will be the No. 8 seed and square off against No. 1 seed Texas in the first round. Each team will be comprised of six players playing at the world renowned Cypress Point Club.

The Match Play Field
There will be eight teams in the field for the 2012 Stanford Classic at Cypress Point including No. 11 Duke, No. 9 Georgia, Michigan, No. 24 Stanford, No. 2 Texas, No. 7 UCLA, No. 4 USC, and No. 3 Washington.

The Match Play Schedule
Sunday, Oct. 28 -- Practice Round, tee times from 2:15 to 6 p.m. PDT
Monday, Oct. 29 -- First Round Matches (Best Ball), tee times off No. 1 and 10 at 8 a.m. PDT
Monday, Oct. 29 -- Second Round Matches (Foursomes), tee times off No. 1 and 10 at 12:30 p.m. PDT
Tuesday, Oct. 30 -- Final Round Matches (Singles), tee times off No. 1 and 10 at 8 a.m. PDT

First-Day Matches (Best Ball)
No. 1 Texas vs. No. 8 Michigan
No. 2 Washington vs. No. 7 Stanford
No. 3 USC vs. No. 6 Duke
No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 5 Georgia

U-M will play either UCLA or Georgia at 12:30 p.m. PDT Monday

The Wolverine Lineup
Michigan will bring six players for the Stanford Classic at Cypress Point. Seniors Matt Alessi (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Birmingham Brother Rice) and Miguel Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia/The Columbus School) along with sophomore Noori Hyun (Seoul, Korea/Centreville HS [Va.]) and freshmen Brett McIntosh (London, Ontario, Canada/Saunders Secondary School), Chris O'Neill (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run HS) and Andrew Yeager (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central HS) will all be making the trip to the West Coast.

WOLVERINE BITES

? Michigan will close its fall season with a unique twist of a rare match-play event at the Stanford Classic at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach, Calif. It marks the first of two match play events for U-M as the Wolverines will open their spring season at the Big Ten Match Play Championship at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. (Feb. 8-9).

? Among the eight teams competing at the Stanford Classic, five are ranked among the nation's top 10 -- No. Texas, No. 3 Washington, No. 4 USC, No. 7 UCLA, No. 9 Georgia, No. 11 Duke and No. 24 Stanford.

? Michigan will play three total matches at the Stanford Classic. All three rounds will feature different formats -- round one (best ball), round two (foursomes) and round three (singles).

? Match play was reintroduced to the NCAA Championships in 2009. After 54 holes of stroke play determines an individual NCAA champion, the team national title is decided in a match-play format comprised of the top eight teams from stroke-play competition. U-M helped usher in the new format in 2009, finishing as a semifinalist at the NCAA Finals at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

? Miguel Echavarria (2-0), Matt Alessi (1-1), Noori Hyun (1-1) and Matt Felsenfeld (0-2) are the only Wolverines with match-play experience.

? Michigan has posted a top-15 individual finisher in each of the first four events -- Brett McIntosh (tie-3rd, Inverness Intercollegiate), Chris O'Neill (tie-5th, Windon Memorial Classic and tie-14th at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational) and Noori Hyun (eighth, Fightin' Irish Gridiron Classic).

? Using career-best rounds of 69 (-2), 70 (1) and 71 (E), Chris O'Neill lowered his career-best 54-hole tournament total by eight shots with his three-under 210 at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational. He topped the 218 he posted earlier this season at the Windon Memorial Classic.

? Chris O'Neill's three-under 210 is the lowest 54-hole event total by a freshman since Joey Garber posted a four-under 209 in the 2011 NCAA Central Regional -- a span of 16 tournaments.

? Following his career-best performance at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Chris O'Neill was named the Big Ten Golfer of the Week. It is the first conference accolade of his career.

? Miguel Echavarria's three-under 68 in the second round of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational equaled his career-best single round. He had a 68 on two other occasions -- second round of the 2011 Wolverine Intercollegiate and the second round of the 2010 Rod Myers Invitational.

? Miguel Echavarria's three-under 68 in the second round of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational equals the lowest round by a Wolverine this season. He tied Noori Hyun's three-under 68 fired in the second round of the Fightin' Irish Gridiron Classic.

? With his career-best final-round one-under 70, Matt Alessi set a new career best for a 54-hole event with a 218 at the Alister MacKeznie Invitational. He topped his previous best of 224 at the 2011 Windon Memorial Classic.

? Michigan set a season best for a 54-hole event with its 868 tally at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational topping U-M's previous best by 24 shots -- 892 at the Fightin' Irish Gridiron Classic. En route to the team's top 54-hole total, the Wolverines posted a season-best team total with a 286 in the second round.

? Noori Hyun posted a career-best weekend at Fightin' Irish Gridiron Classic, setting new bests for finish (8th), single-round tally (68, -3 second) and 54-hole event total (217). It marked the first time he finished among the top 20 at an event. His previous-best finish was a tie for 23rd at the 2012 North Ranch Collegiate.

? After walking on to the team last year, Matt Alessi will make his 16th consecutive start for Michigan. Captain Miguel Echavarria will also start his 16th straight (20th career). Both players have yet to miss a start over the last two seasons.

? Freshmen Chris O'Neill and Brett McIntosh have started all five events this season. In fact, U-M has used the same starting five in all five fall events -- O'Neill, McIntosh, Matt Alessi, Miguel Echavarria and Noori Hyun.

? Brett McIntosh is the only left-handed golfer on the team.

? Michigan has been selected for NCAA Regional play the last five seasons.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

On the start to his collegiate career and the successes he has had ... "It's been really cool. I got off to a bit of a rough start my first tournament but after that, I've seemed to settle down and being Big Ten Player of the Week was a very cool and neat experience as a freshman. I certainly wasn't expecting it last week, but it was nice."

On if he expected to have some early success ... "I think I did. I did have those goals and it's nice to accomplish one of them. I wouldn't say that I really thought it was going to happen. It was more of one of those hopeful kinds of things to come in and make an impact right away, but I'm glad it's happening."

On if the team is getting ready to break out with a strong performance ... "I think so. I think we've seen with our performance as guys have finished in the top 10 that it's just a matter of time before we all put it together as a team. With Matt (Alessi) and Miguel's (Echavarria) leadership, it's really helping the rest of the guys. I think we will put it together."

On the upcoming match play event at Cypress Point ... "It's such a unique opportunity to be playing that course. I've never been out there or anything but just looking at the pictures of the course, it looks amazing. Match play gives us a lot better chance to make upsets because the field is just unbelievable and everyone is ranked inside the top 20. We're going to have to really play well, but match play is something that anyone can win."

On if he wants to be the guy with the pressure putt to win ... "Absolutely, every time. I want the pressure right on my back. I absolutely love it. That's why I play."

On something we don't know about him ... "I'm a huge sports fan overall. I really love international soccer. If there's any sport on TV, I will always watch it over a regular TV show. Barcelona all the way and in the Premier League, I root for Tottenham."

On if he ever played soccer ... "I did and actually broke my collarbone last year playing soccer. I played travel soccer growing up until seventh grade."

On why he chose to play golf ... "I got hurt in seventh grade and had foot surgery. I couldn't run or do anything for an entire summer, so I played golf all summer. I just kind of fell in love with the sport."

On his competitive edge and fire ... "Absolutely. I played basketball too and I think I love golf more as a team sport. I love winning as a team and getting to compete with other people. It feels so much better when you win and do things well to have others to celebrate it with."

LAST TIME OUT
Highlighted with a career-best eighth-place individual finish from sophomore Noori Hyun, Michigan finished the Fightin' Irish Gridiron Classic with an 11th-place team finish following posting an 892 event total. During the event, U-M posted team rounds of 297, 296 and 299 at the Warren Golf Course. [ Recap ]

UP NEXT
Fri-Sat., Feb. 8-9 -- at the Big Ten Match Play Championships (Bradenton, Fla.)
Sun-Tue., Feb. 17-19 -- at Puerto Rico Classic (Rio Grande, P.R.)

Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423

Source: http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/mich/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/102412aaa.html

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Sexual Issues for Cancer Survivors | Fight Colorectal Cancer

From FCRC webinar Oct. 2012

With 12 million people in the U.S. living with and beyond cancer, health and psychosocial issues facing survivors are finally becoming active topics of research and discussion.

The Oct. 20^thJournal of Clinical Oncology? is a special ?survivorship? issue featuring an array of special articles primarily focusing on the health issues such as bone health, symptoms like? chemobrain, lifestyle factors such as physical activity to help prevent recurrence. Articles also focus on fertility preservation, and sexuality issues in cancer survivors.

?It has become clear that sexual function is often profoundly disrupted by cancer treatment,? wrote the authors of a review article ?Sexuality in Adult Cancer Survivors.??

The special ?survivorship? issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology summarizes progress and research in the past 7 years, since the Institute of Medicine and the JCO first published special reports about what was then an emerging field of survivorship study. In this issue, authors Sharon Bober and Veronica Varela discuss sexuality issues among all cancer survivors.

For those with colorectal cancer, they noted, pelvic surgery and/or radiation can damage nerves and cause erectile and ejaculatory problems for men, and for women, low desire, lubrication problems, pain with vaginal changes.

FCRC webinar explains nerve-sparing rectal cancer surgery

Fight Colorectal Cancer?recently presented nationally-renowned radiation oncology researcher Dr. Joel Tepper of the University of NorthCarolina School of Medicine in an hour-long webinar focusing on sex after rectal cancer treatment. H noted that women can be particularly affected because the rectum shares a very thin wall with the vagina, but that for both sexes, ?not much research or good information is available.? However, Dr. Tepper?s clear, methodical presentation of issues faced by CRC patients?including illustrations of how recently improved surgical techniques can? spare pelvic nerves?goes a long way in helping CRC patients understand sexuality issues and treatments they might consider.

?Sources: Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol. 30, No. 30, Oct. 20, 2012 pp.3712-3718; and the October 2012 Fight Colorectal Cancer?s webinar ?Will Rectal Cancer Treatment Affect My Sexuality? .

Source: http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/research_news/2012/10/sexual_issues_for_cancer_survivors

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University police keeps football games safe

By Editorial Board
October 22, 2012 at 11:22 pm

ASU Police has seen a decline in crimes at sporting events in Sun Devil Stadium. There has been a reported decrease in minor in consumption citations, less hospitalization and less fighting or dumping of food and drinks, which is the most common crime at football games. Some football fans are quick to attribute the decrease in crime to the increased presence of families, but the family presence at Cardinals games is just as high, if not higher.

It?s more likely that the increase in University law enforcement is the reason students can enjoy a safe game of football. In addition to increased police presence, a lack of sport rivalry and heightened security preparation has contributed to the overall safer sports experience. There are even undercover cops in ASU gear roaming pre-game tailgate parties to issue MICs to underage drinkers before they can enter the stadium.

There were approximately 90 police officers from several local police departments at or near Sun Devil Stadium during Thursday?s game against Oregon, and more than twice that many event security officers. Officers are on hand to prevent whatever crimes any football fans would even consider committing.

Of the 72,000 attendees who filled the stadium (at least until Oregon?s early lead sent fair-weather Sun Devil fans fleeing to escape the mad traffic rush), only three needed medical attention, one of whom was in the student section. Part of this could be attributed to the cooler temperatures and part has to do with the stadium?s lack of alcoholic beverages.

The University has worked hard to ensure that alcohol stays out of all campus festivities, including sporting events. As a result, not only do no altercations result from the uncomfortable occurrence of a spilled beer drenching one?s shirt, violence in general is less prevalent at Sun Devil Stadium than wet venues.

The alcohol ban impacts the amount of violence at Sun Devil Stadium. If one were to look at other collegiate sporting venues like the Los Angeles Memorial-Coliseum, where the USC Trojans play, there are more opportunities for violent altercations due to the presence of alcohol.

Security is fairly tight at our stadium and it doesn?t let fans rush the field, so ASU police don?t have to worry about trespassing or unruly fans. The structure of Sun Devil Stadium lends itself well to the managing of overly-enthused fans. There also aren?t very many student visitors from rival teams that sit in student sections. They prefer to sit on the other side of the stadium, which limits occasion for conflict.

Police presence at the stadium drastically increases for rivalry games, like the annual ASU-UA Territorial Cup, but ASU games have still been relatively calm during the past couple of years, according to ASU Police Assistant Chief Jim Hardina.

Let?s hope ASU?s police department and sports fans can keep the ball rolling on the University?s new safety trend.

Source: http://www.statepress.com/2012/10/22/university-police-keeps-football-games-safe/

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M 4.3, Oaxaca, Mexico

Earthquake Details

• This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude	4.3
Date-Time
Location	16.581?N, 97.336?W
Depth	46.8 km (29.1 miles)
Region	OAXACA, MEXICO
Distances	36 km (22 miles) N of San Miguel Panixtlahuaca, Mexico 67 km (41 miles) WSW of Zimatlan de Alvarez, Mexico 70 km (43 miles) WSW of San Jacinto Ocotlan, Mexico 71 km (44 miles) WSW of Trinidad de Zaachila, Mexico
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 27.3 km (17.0 miles); depth +/- 9.2 km (5.7 miles)
Parameters	NST= 22, Nph= 24, Dmin=170.3 km, Rmss=1.13 sec, Gp=194?, M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=5
Source	Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D) Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	usb000dc79

• Did you feel it? Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others.

Scientific & Technical Information

Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usb000dc79.php

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Facebook's CEO Discusses Q3 2012 Earnings Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Executives

Deborah Crawford ? Director of Investor Relations

Mark Zuckerberg ? Chairman, Chief Executive Officer

Sheryl Sandberg ? Chief Operating Officer, Director

David Ebersman ? Chief Financial Officer

Analysts

Justin Post ? Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Gene Munster ? Piper Jaffray

Youssef Squali ? Cantor Fitzgerald

Heather Bellini ? Goldman Sachs

Scott Devitt ? Morgan Stanley

Ross Sandler ? Deutsche Bank

Mark Mahaney ? Citigroup

Jordan Rohan ? Stifel Nicolaus

Douglas Anmuth ? JP Morgan

Brian Wieser ? Pivotal Research

Daniel Ernst ? Hudson Square Research

Rory F. Maher ? Capstone Investments

Anthony DiClemente ? Barclays

Facebook, Inc. (FB) Q3 2012 Earnings Call October 23, 2012 5:00 PM ET

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Jay, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Facebook third quarter earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers? remarks, there will be a question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)

Thank you very much. Ms. Deborah Crawford, Director of Investor Relations, you may begin.

Deborah Crawford

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Facebook?s third quarter earnings conference call. Joining me today to talk about our third quarter results are Mark Zuckerberg, CEO; Sheryl Sandberg COO; and David Ebersman, CFO.

Before we get started, I?d like to take this opportunity to remind you that during the course of this call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding the future events and the future financial performance of the company. We caution you to consider the important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements in the press release and this conference call. These risk factors are described in our press release and are more fully detailed under the caption Risk Factors in our quarterly report on our Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on July 31, 2012. In addition, please note that the date of this conference call is October 23, 2012, and any forward-looking statements that we make today are based on assumptions as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of the new information or future events.

During this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in today?s earnings press release.

This call is being broadcast on the Internet and is available on the Investor Relations section of the Facebook website at investor.fb.com. A rebroadcast of the call will be available after 6 p.m. Pacific time today. The earnings press release and an accompanying investor presentation are also available on our website. After management?s remarks, we will host a Q&A session.

And now I?d like to turn the call over to Mark.

Mark Zuckerberg

Thanks, everyone, for joining us. I?m going to use this time today the same way I will use it on most of these calls, to talk about our vision and strategy.

Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. We do this by building services that give people the power to share whatever they want and stay connected to whomever they want, no matter where they are. For at least the next few years, there are three pillars to our strategy. First, we want to build the best and most ubiquitous mobile product. Second, we want to build a platform so that every new app that gets created can be social and enable people to share. And, third, we want to build a strong monetization and economic engine to build Facebook into one of the world?s most valuable companies.

I?m going to give an update on where we are in building each of these pillars. Let?s start with mobile. I think our opportunity on mobile is the most misunderstood aspect of Facebook today. Most people underestimate how fundamentally good the trend towards mobile can be for Facebook. This is because there are three trends that are kind of compounding together. First, mobile will give us the opportunity to reach way more people than desktop. Second, people on mobile use Facebook more often. And, third, long term, I think we?re going to monetize better per amount of time spent on mobile than desktop. All of these combined together make mobile a much larger opportunity for us than I think most people realize.

Now let?s go through each of these points. First, we should be able to reach more people on mobile than desktop. To us, this isn?t really controversial. In the coming years, there could be billions more smartphones than desktop computers. We already reach more than a billion people worldwide, including 600 million on mobile, growing quickly and up from 376 million last year. Facebook is the most widely downloaded app on basically every smartphone platform, so we?re well positioned to reach the growing smartphone population.

Second, people use our mobile app to visit Facebook more frequently. Somebody who uses only our desktop product has only a 40% likelihood of using Facebook on a given day, but someone who uses mobile has a 70% likelihood of using Facebook on a given day. This thought is surprising to many people and very good news for our opportunity on mobile. Another thing I?ve found encouraging is that we?ve shown that we can really increase mobile engagement.

Over the past year, a lot of people gave us feedback that our mobile apps were just too slow. So we took the time to rewrite them to make them faster. And since we released the new faster iOS app, we?ve seen an 80% increase in iOS News Feed loads and more than a 20% increase in iOS engagement in terms of likes and comments. We haven?t released the rewritten Android app yet, but we have many more updates on the way. So people on mobile are already more engaged than people on desktop, and there?s a lot more we can do to help drive deeper mobile engagement as well.

Third, as people spend more time using Facebook on mobile, the business question becomes how much money we can make from that time. I believe that over the long run we?re going to see more monetization per time spent on mobile than on desktop. Now, this isn?t proven yet, but we?re committed to getting there. The reason why I believe this is that on mobile, monetization has to be integrated deeply into our product. On desktop, we?ve built a multibillion-dollar business with ads on the side, separated from people?s primary experience.

But on mobile, we believe ads will be more like TV ? high quality and integrated into the experience rather than off to the side. Mobile is a forcing function for us to rethink these experiences to be in mind. Since monetization needs to be integrated directly to the core product experience, I?ve now asked each product group to own the mobile monetization experience for their product. This is already unlocking a lot of ideas and creativity, and we?re starting to see higher-quality monetization experiences in terms of better ad products for people and better results for advertisers.

Finally, I want to dispel this myth that Facebook can?t make money on mobile. This may have seemed true earlier this year because we hadn?t started trying yet. Today, after just six months of ramping up our mobile ad business, we?re already at a point where 14% of our ad revenue this quarter is from mobile. That?s about $150 million. And the most important thing to understand here is that we?re just getting started with our mobile product development and monetization.

So on mobile, we have these three forces compounding together. We can reach more users, those users visit Facebook more often, and I think we will make more money. So I?m excited about this opportunity.

Next I want to talk about platform. At a high level, for our platform the last five to 10 years has been about getting everyone in the world connected and mapping out all the relationships between people. The next five to 10 years are going to be about all the apps and experiences that are now possible to build now that all these connections have already been mapped out. The social graph is a new sort of critical infrastructure for companies.

Since the majority of the people use their services are on Facebook, increasingly developers are building social apps. Today, eight of the top 10 iOS apps integrate with Facebook, and 40% of the top 400 apps use our SDKs. We believe that social apps will be the best products in every business category. In some categories, it may be an abrupt, disruptive, or revolutionary change, and in others, the change may be more subtle or roll out more slowly over time.

But over the next five to 10 years, we believe that the best products in every category will be social. We?ve already started seeing this, with media and Games, and in the future we expect to see this in areas like commerce and even finance. One question I often get is what?s our business here? As these apps get built and industries get transformed, why is this good for Facebook? We believe that over time, the more value we provide, the more revenue we?ll be positioned to get back, whether that?s through developers buying ads, running our ads through our network, using our Payments service, or other possible ways. We?re committed to building a sustainable and profitable platform.

Now, I want to talk specifically about Games for a bit, because I think the story here is a little misunderstood as well. Overall, gaming on Facebook isn?t doing as well as I?d like, but the reality is that there are actually two different stories playing out here. On the one hand, our Payments revenue from Zynga decreased by 20% this quarter compared to last year. But the interesting thing is that the rest of the Games ecosystem has actually been growing. Our monthly Payments revenue from the rest of the ecosystem increased 40% over the past year since Payments has been adopted. This evolution is pretty encouraging.

Additionally, I want to talk about Instagram. This is really a platform success story. We got to know them because they built a social integration with us that a lot of people really liked, and both companies saw the opportunity to do even more together. When we agreed to acquire them, Instagram had 27 million registered users. Today, they have more than 100 million. The most recent comScore reports show that in the U.S., there?s more mobile time spent on Instagram than on Twitter. By giving Instagram access to some of the tools we have internally here at Facebook, they can grow even faster than they would have alone.

Finally, I want to switch gears and talk a bit about monetization. The most important thing to understand here is that we?re just getting started on this. I?d like to mention a few of the monetization products I?m most excited about before handing it off to Sheryl to go into more detail on them.

We just rolled out a new product called Mobile App-Installs. Every developer wants more people to use their app. We can provide distribution to help developers increase discovery of their apps. I?m excited about this, because it helps developers with one of the biggest problems they face. I?m also excited about this because it?s truly a mobile-first ad product. A lot of what the desktop web is optimized to do is allow you to click from page to page, which just isn?t the basic behavior on mobile. On mobile, you have to install an app first, so installs are way more valuable. I?m excited to see how developers use our mobile app product.

We?ve also been rolling out Facebook Exchange and a product called Custom Audiences. The idea is that we want to improve our targeting capabilities so that it?s easier for marketers to reach their customers and so their ads are relevant and interesting to people on Facebook. This will create much better experiences for everyone using our product.

I?m also excited about the Gifts launch we?re in the early days of. I think there?s an opportunity here to bring more commerce to Facebook over time, and Gifts is a logical first step. People already send millions of birthday messages a day using Facebook, and a lot of them have asked to be able to do more. Gifts provides us with the opportunity to learn about how people buy things and will hopefully help us build better services in the future.

And of course beyond these products, there?s a lot more we plan to do. And I look forward to talking about those things on future calls. So thanks for taking the time to be here with us today and giving me an opportunity to report on how we?re doing in the three core areas our strategy: mobile, platform, and monetization. We have a lot going on right now, and I?m excited about the progress we?re making.

Sheryl Sandberg

Thanks, Mark. We made a lot of progress in our advertising business in the third quarter. Our total third quarter revenue was $1.26 billion, with $1.09 billion coming from advertising. This represents a 32% year-over-year increase in overall revenue and a 36% increase for advertising. With a billion people using Facebook monthly, we have created the largest, most engaged community of real people in the world. Building on this extraordinary asset, the goal of our advertising business is to transform how people and businesses connect. Our scale and targeting capabilities make Facebook increasingly important for marketers ? brand marketers, direct marketers, local businesses, and developers ? as they move customers all the way through the marketing funnel.

For brand marketers like Walmart and Procter & Gamble, Facebook offers the ability to reach customers, build awareness, and drive positive association, affinity, and consideration. We help brand marketers develop ongoing and often daily relationships with customers, in many cases for the first time. Facebook is starting to combine the science of CRM with the scale of brand marketing.

For direct marketers like Amazon and Capital One, working with Facebook can achieve high ROI by tapping into our incredibly accurate targeting capabilities. This represents a significant opportunity for us in a $55 billion global market. For the 12.8 million local businesses that already have Facebook pages, our products, including location and interest targeting and Offers, deepen customer relationships and drive sales. With tens of millions more local businesses around the world not yet on Facebook, we offer a simple path for SMBs to go digital and drive customers into their stores.

And for developers, we spur app downloads and installs and help them reengage customers to generate revenue. Facebook is uniquely positioned to succeed in this rapidly growing global market.

We believe that each of these market segments could over time become multibillion-dollar opportunities for us. To realize this potential, we?re focused on three priorities. One, building products that create value for every type of marketer. Two, demonstrating that value to marketers. And, three, taking advantage of the opportunity we have in mobile.

I?ll start with the first, products. In Q3, we increased our investment in monetization products. The result has been rapid innovation and new product introductions to serve each of the market segments more effectively. I will highlight four.

Custom Audiences, introduced in early September, helps marketers use their customer lists or other data to target Facebook ads in a privacy-protected way. This allows them to send the right message to the right person at the right time. For example, an automaker can advertise to customers who are looking to buy new car. We frequently see a match rate of over 50% and sometimes as high as 95%, which we believe to be much higher than industry norm.

In September, we expanded the rollout of FBX, the Facebook Exchange, which allows businesses to bid on specific impressions in real time. For example, if a customer visits a home-furnishing website to view a particular rug, the business can deliver Facebook ads to remind him that the rug is still available.

A month ago, we reintroduced Offers, which provides businesses a powerful new way to acquire new customers and drive loyalty. Every time someone claims an offer on Facebook, he or she creates a story that is shared with friends. Since launch, approximately 100,000 pages have created an offer, and approximately 30% of offer claims are coming from mobile devices.

Finally, we launched Promoted Posts, which make it easy to turn any page post into an ad. This simplicity is especially valuable for local businesses. Since launching in Q2, we have seen promoted posts from over 300,000 pages, over 25% of which are new advertisers to Facebook.

These new products enable marketers to achieve more of their objectives on Facebook. And more importantly, by improving the targeting and quality of our ads, we also create a better experience for our users.

But we know it?s not enough to roll out new products. Our second strategic priority is to prove the value of our products to marketers. Brand marketers increasingly recognize that they can have impact on Facebook similar to that on TV. Our daily reach is more than three times larger than the total viewing audience for this year?s Super Bowl, and it happens every day. Prominent brand marketers such as McDonald?s and Gerber have publicly recognize the high ROI Facebook delivers. We have shown that Facebook ads drive sales and ring cash registers. Based on studies of more than 60 campaigns, we learned that 70% of those campaigns showed a return on ad spend of three times or better, and 49% showed a return of five times or better.

Samsung Mobile USA?s experience demonstrates the value our ads deliver. Samsung used Facebook to build awareness of their new Galaxy S3 smartphone, reaching 105 million people and driving a 10-point lift in brand favorability among relevant customers. Even better, they determined that customers who saw the ads bought their new phone at an 85% higher rate than those who didn?t. As a result, the company realized more than $129 million in sales attributable to Facebook, nearly a 13x return on advertising spend.

Our new targeting capabilities, Custom Audiences and FBX, greatly increase the value Facebook provides direct marketers by significantly increasing efficiency through better precision. MGM Resorts International has been testing Custom Audiences to provide offers on hotel stays to repeat guests. After seeing returns on advertising spend range from 3x to 12x, they?re expanding their use of this product.

Initial results from beta partners show that FBX ads can achieve results equal to and often greater than those of other ad platforms. For example, MediaMath found their clients achieved 40% better performance on FBX than other platforms. Tell apart clients using FBX experienced a 10-times return on ad spend at a cost per acquisition comparable to other platforms.

Our other products are demonstrating similar results. Lawson, a leading convenience store chain in Japan, used Facebook Offers to advertise a discount on fried chicken. Over half a million people claimed the offer, 92% of whom did so from their mobile device, generating a 7x return on advertising spend. And Sam?s Chowder House, a local restaurant, used Promoted Posts to drive a 19% increase in both their number of guests ? in both their monthly number of guests and monthly gross revenue.

Finally, I want to talk about our progress in mobile. Marketers want to reach mobile customers, because that?s where people are spending more of their time. We believe that no one is better positioned than we are to help marketers capitalize on the transition to mobile. Our mobile user base is huge, growing, and even more engaged than our desktop users. And, importantly, we deliver an experience that works for ads, since a significant portion of time on Facebook Mobile is spent using News Feed.

In Q3, we saw marketers embrace News Feed on both mobile and desktop as a growing part of their advertising strategies. This is driving results, given that page post ads in News Feed on both mobile and desktop are more than eight times as engaging as page post ads on the right-hand side. Advertisers are also seeing a 10x greater ad recall per impression. We see significant opportunity for future revenue growth from products and mobile News Feed, such as paid search ads and Mobile App-Install Ads, which we launched just last week. We also recently announced that we?re working with partners to test mobile ads and apps off of Facebook on both iOS and Android. We only started our mobile monetization efforts in March, and already in the third quarter, 14% of our advertising revenue came from mobile.

Many of the products I?ve highlighted in this are early in their history and will take time to generate revenue and scale, but our results to date suggest that we?re on the right track. We?re rapidly launching and scaling products that deliver value for marketers. We?re increasingly demonstrating the value that Facebook ads can deliver, and we have become one of the largest mobile advertising platforms in less than eight months.

Now I?ll hand it over to David.

David Ebersman

Thanks, Sheryl, and good afternoon, everyone. I want to build on Mark and Sheryl?s comments and share our progress in the areas of user growth, revenue, and financial performance.

Let?s start with users. We ended September with 1.007 billion people using Facebook, up 26% from a year ago. 584 million people accessed Facebook each day on average in September, up 28% from the prior year. We grew monthly and daily users in all geographic regions, led by Brazil, India, and Japan. Mobile continues to drive our user growth, and we ended Q3 with 604 million monthly mobile users, up 61% versus last year. None of the user numbers include Instagram, which as Mark mentioned passed 100 million registered users and continues to grow.

We?re pleased that engagement patterns remain impressively strong around the world in terms of visitation as well as content shared and feedback created, as measured by likes and comments. We still see 58% of our monthly users coming back to Facebook each day, even with more than a billion people using Facebook, including later adopters, and despite a constantly evolving competitive environment. This speaks to the value of our service and the strength of our network.

Now turning to revenue. As Sheryl said, total revenue was up 32% from last year, and ads revenue was up 36%. If exchange rates had stayed constant, total revenue would?ve increased 38% and ad revenue 43%. Over the first two quarters of 2012, our ad revenue growth with constant exchange rates was 38% and 33%, so our Q3 number of 43% demonstrates we?re seeing positive impact from our recent investments in monetization. Ad revenue growth was driven by a 27% increase in the number of ads delivered and a 7% increase in the average price per ad. The increase in ads delivered is similar to the year-over-year rate of user growth, as the reduction in ads per user from engagement shifting to mobile was generally offset by product changes that increased ad inventory.

In terms of ad price changes versus last year, the 7% increase was driven primarily by the ramping up of ads in News Feed, as these ads continue to have higher levels of user engagement as measured by click rates and therefore a higher price per ad compared to ads in the right-hand column. In the U.S. and Canada, where the shift to mobile continues rapidly, price per ad increased by 20% relative to last year. And price per ad also increased significantly in Asia and rest of world. Europe remains challenging, with price per ad down from a year ago.

Payments and other fees revenue in the third quarter totaled $176 million, up 13% from last year but down 9% compared to the second quarter, driven by a decline in payments from Zynga. Payments revenue from non-Zynga developers in aggregate continued to grow from Q2 to Q3. In Q3, Zynga represented 43% of our Payments revenue, down from 51% in Q2 and 62% in Q3 last year.

Including its ad spend, Zynga comprised 7% of our total revenue this quarter, down from 10% in Q2 and 12% in Q3 last year. An additional reminder on Payments: In Q4, we plan to recognize revenue from four months of Payments transactions, for accounting reasons noted in our last 10-Q and repeated on slide 10 of the earnings slides on our website. In terms of revenue per user, worldwide ARPU increased 4% versus Q3 2011. North America and rest of world ARPU increased by around 20% each, while Europe and Asia ARPU each increased by a few percent, with Europe negatively affected by exchange rate changes.

Turning now to expenses. Our Q3 GAAP expenses were $885 million, an increase of 64% from last year. Excluding the effect of stock comp, our remaining expenses increased 57% to $737 million, driven by head count growth and investments in infrastructure. We ended the quarter with just over 4,300 employees, a quarter-over-quarter increase of 9%. We plan to continue to invest aggressively in the business in Q4, with a sharp focus on the three priorities Mark described.

We view the product development investments we?re making in mobile and platform as critical to drive continued user growth and deepen engagement and to grow our strategic importance for developers and advertisers. We?re also investing more in monetization in order to build out and improve the products we offer advertisers and also to fund new initiatives such as Gifts. We had GAAP operating income of $377 million in the third quarter. Including the effects of stock comp, our operating income was $525 million, representing a 42% non-GAAP operating margin.

Our GAAP tax rate for Q3 was 116%, driven by the unusual amount of stock comp this year, a portion of which is not tax deductible. Excluding the effect of stock comp, our non-GAAP tax rate was 40%. For Q4, we expect our GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates to be similar to Q3 before our GAAP tax rate returns to more typical levels in 2013.

The amount of cash tax we pay will be significantly different from the tax provision I just described due to deductions from vesting of RSUs and exercise of options. At today?s stock price, we estimate tax deductions of over $10 billion that will reduce our cash tax payments in 2012 and in the future. Driven by our tax provision in Q3, we reported a GAAP net loss of $59 million or $0.02 per share. Excluding stock comp and its tax effects, we had a non-GAAP net income of $311 million or $0.12 per share.

Turning to cash metrics, we purchased $171 million of property and equipment in Q3 and acquired another $161 million of equipment financed through capital leases. For 2012, we expect to come in at the low end of the CapEx range we provided last quarter, which was $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion. In Q3, we also paid $300 million upon closing the Instagram acquisition, and we ended Q3 with $10.5 billion in cash and investments. In Q4, RSUs that we granted employees between 2007 and 2010 will vest and settle for the first time.

On the vesting dates, we?ll withhold from employees approximately 120 million shares, and we?ll pay income taxes for the employees. The total tax payments will equal the value of the 120 million shares on the vesting dates or approximately $2.4 billion at today?s stock price. As we previously disclosed, we expect to fund the tax payments from cash on hand and our amended term loan facility. After the withholding dates, the 120 million shares will no longer be considered outstanding for accounting purposes, reducing our shares that are used to calculate EPS.

In closing, we?re pleased with our business progress over the past few months and how we?re positioned for the future. We?re excited about the product development investments we?re making in order to build out better and deeper social experiences for the people who use Facebook, and we?re focused on executing on our advertising, Payments, and new business opportunities to translate our product successes into a strong and valuable business.

Now let?s open the call for questions.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Justin Post with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is open.

Justin Post ? Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Great. A couple questions for you on mobile. First, can you talk about total engagement as you look at individual users, both on PC and mobile? Are you seeing that engagement grow if you add up both in minutes or likes or other metrics? Can you talk about total engagement of your user base and how that?s trending? And then thanks for the mobile disclosure, 14% of revenues. Can you say ? last quarter you gave us kind of how you were ending the quarter. Can you say if that mobile was kind of accelerating as the quarter progressed? Thank you.

David Ebersman

Sure. I can take both those questions. So first of all, in terms of engagement on mobile and web, we continue to see that content created is growing across the world, and feedback, which we measure in terms of likes and comments, continues to grow well as well. So the engagement story on Facebook continues to be a strong one that we?re pleased about.

In terms of the sort of Feed revenue, at the end of the second quarter, we disclosed that at that point we were running at about $1 million a day, and we used that metric because we?d just started ramping up towards the end of the quarter, so we felt like giving you the numbers for the whole quarter was not representative of where we were. Those numbers continued to ramp through the quarter. We ended the third quarter with more than $4 million a day coming from Feed and about three-quarters of that coming from mobile Feed. But going forward, I think we?ll stick to the metric of mobile as a percentage of revenue.

Operator

Our next question comes from Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray. Your line is open.

Gene Munster ? Piper Jaffray

Good afternoon, and maybe just following up on Justin?s question, can you talk ? obviously you guys have been putting the pedal to the metal, and I think, Dave, you just kind of gave some metrics around the impact to the overall experience. But first question is, is there anything that makes you believe that the acceleration in mobile is impacting the experience? And second, can you talk about any sort of cannibalization from the desktop to mobile in terms of ad revenue?

Sheryl Sandberg

Yeah, I can take this. We?re carefully monitoring user engagement and sentiment, and we?re pleased with the results so far. We look at how users are engaging on our platform. And as we?ve increased the number of ads in News Feed, we?ve been carefully monitoring that engagement. Our revenue?s growing, and that means, as I discussed, we have a lot of new clients. We also have a lot of clients and customers who are spending more with us. So we?re seeing increased revenue and increased budgets from them. Some of the revenue also is moving over from the right-hand column to News Feed, and that?s part of our strategy. We are putting more emphasis on the products that are running through News Feed, rolling out products, because that?s where the natural ad format is for mobile.

Operator

Next we have the line of Scott Devitt with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Once again, Mr. Devitt with Morgan Stanley, your line is open. Next we have Youssef Squali with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open.

Youssef Squali ? Cantor Fitzgerald

So I was just wondering if you can maybe give us some examples of instances where you guys are already seeing better monetization on mobile than on desktop. And, David, can you just quantify the contribution of Instagram in the quarter, both top and bottom line, if possible?

Sheryl Sandberg

We?ve been working on ad products that monetize on mobile, as I said, into News Feed. And so one example of a product that?s uniquely mobile is Mobile App-Install Ads that Mark mentioned and I mentioned as well. That?s an experience that?s uniquely mobile, and it?s a good example of an ad product that really works in that format.

David Ebersman

In terms of Instagram, we closed the acquisition towards the end of the third quarter, so the impact was next to zero, certainly zero on the top line, and next to zero on the bottom line. In the fourth quarter, we will have expenses both from the employees and the investments we?re making in Instagram and also the amortization of the intangible assets that we acquire.

Sheryl Sandberg

And to add one more thought on monetization on mobile versus desktop, which I think is the heart of the question, if we?re measuring engagement and the results from page post ads, comparing them when they?re placed on the right-hand side to those that are being placed in News Feed. And comparatively, the ones in News Feed ? and that?s on both mobile and desktop ? are eight times more engaging, and we see 10 times the ad recall. And that makes sense, because News Feed is where a lot of the engagement on Facebook takes place, so by moving those promoted posts or page posts into News Feed, we?re increasing engagement and results as well.

Youssef Squali ? Cantor Fitzgerald

Thank you.

Operator

Next we have Heather Bellini with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Heather Bellini ? Goldman Sachs

Great. Thank you very much. I had a question for Mark. I guess I was wondering, given the monetization products that you mentioned at the start of the call, if you could maybe rank-order for us ? how would you rank those in terms of their ability to drive revenue in calendar 2013, and which ones should be watching most closely? Thank you.

Mark Zuckerberg

Yeah, I mean, I look at it in terms of we?re building a lot more integrated ad products now, right? And if you look at where we were historically, most of the ad inventory was in this right-hand column. It was a separate experience. And we had this ad team and their job was to kind of drive that service, and they could provide that service to every other product team. So the Messages team focuses on building the best Messages product, and now when they can run that on the side to make money.

Now what we?re basically doing is we?ve told every product team that they?re responsible for the advertising experience within each of their products, so the News Feed team is coming up with better ad experiences than just being able to run kind of general ads on the side. And what we?re seeing is that across each of these consumer products that we have, we?re just getting more tailored advertising experiences. So I think there are multiple ways to look at it. I mean, you can look at it by market segment for advertisers, or you could look at it by consumer product; that tends to be how I look at more. But I mean whether it?s a News Feed or the mobile apps that we?re building, or Timeline or any of these things, I think we?re just going to see a lot better products for both users and advertisers.

Operator

Our next question is from Scott Devitt with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Scott Devitt ? Morgan Stanley

Okay, great. We got it this time. And, sorry, I got cut off, so if you?ve answered, just pass. But, Mark, you mentioned ad network in your commentary, and you also discussed search as a business opportunity for Facebook in the middle of the quarter at an event. And so just wonder if you could talk a little bit more about those opportunities in terms of the approach that you would take to build businesses such as that. And then secondly, David, you mentioned changes in the ad product as a driver for growth in ads served, and what were those changes that were made? Thanks.

Mark Zuckerberg

Sure. So on platform, the basic approach that we have is we think that almost every product category is going to get transformed in some capacity, some abrupt, some kind of subtle transitions over time, where we think that at the end of this process, the winning products in every category are going to be social ones. And one question that I get frequently is just how, if we enable companies to build better products, how does Facebook make money from that? And I think it?s a fair and good question, because then we have to build our platform in a sustainable and profitable way.

But rather than focusing too early on, on trying to figure out exactly what the economic relationship is going to be with each of these partners, what we?re primarily focused on is just enabling these companies to grow. And the basic idea is that there are many different ways that we make money from the different platform partners, right? So most of the companies that develop with us ? probably shouldn?t say most ? but a lot of them buy a lot of ads with us, right, and are some of our biggest advertisers, if you look at the list of advertisers. We?re running a few tests now where on mobile apps and on desktop, some developers are running our ads on their sites, and that?s another way that we can get a revenue share and can get some revenue and profit from these developers growing in engagement.

We obviously have the Payments system as well, so developers can integrate that, and we take a cut of that. And there may be other ways in the future that make sense as well that we can talk to developers about exploring. But the basic idea is that we are first focused on helping developers transform these categories, and then we believe that there are going to be a number of different ways of that that revenue can come back to us.

David Ebersman

So, Scott, you were asking about the comments I made that in the quarter, this quarter, the number of ads we showed grew at a similar rate to user growth after ? in the recent past we?ve been growing ads more slowly because of the shift to mobile, and the product changes helped to offset that. So one product change, for example, would be in this quarter we showed ads in News Feed on both mobile and personal computers, and the year-ago quarter we didn?t. We have made other changes through the period of time, several of which I think had a positive impact on the number of ads we show per page on personal computer use.

Operator

Next we have the line of Ross Sandler with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

Ross Sandler ? Deutsche Bank

Great. Just two quick questions. First for Mark on the platform, one of the things we all hope to see Facebook do one day is kind of monetize your strong distribution without touching the user experience with ads. We assume that you guys have thought about this quite a bit, so is there any strategy in the works where you guys could potentially charge for API calls or something that isn?t related to the advertising products? And then, David, a question about the geographic revenue mix. So most of the ad acceleration happened in the U.S. Most of your other regions on a local FX basis decelerated a little bit. So have the new mobile ads been rolled out in those other regions yet, or is that a catalyst that we will see in the coming quarters? Thanks.

Mark Zuckerberg

Well, I?ll just talk a bit about how we?re thinking about platform monetization. One of the reasons why we favor approaches like having developers buy ads or run our ads or accept payments is that we end up getting a portion of revenue or the value that?s created, as opposed to if you were doing something that was tied to our cost spend, then that?s ? it?s a less-efficient way to get value for that value that we?re helping other folks create. So it?s definitely something that we think about.

But, again, one theme that I talked about earlier was how each product group now is in charge of the ads experience for that product, and what you?re seeing the platform team build are things like Mobile App-Installs, which is an advertising product for providing distribution for developers, and that?s one of the things that I?m really excited about. It?s a mobile-first product, it?s for developers, a lot of folks who aren?t traditionally Facebook developers still want to spread their apps on mobile, so I think it has a lot of potential.

David Ebersman

In terms of the geographic mix for our advertising revenue, the new products that are most important to us, or were most important in the third quarter, which is the ads in News Feed, are adopted or were adopted more quickly by our U.S. clients than globally, and that?s what we would expect just given how these things tend to play out. But if you look at ad revenue year over year across the world, actually Asia and rest of world grew at a faster rate than the U.S. did, and Europe grew a little bit more slowly. So while I do think the U.S. has grown more in terms of dollars because the base is bigger, we?re pleased with how we?re growing across the world with, again, Europe lagging a bit more than we?d like.

Operator

Next we have the line of Mark Mahaney with Citi. Your line is open.

Mark Mahaney ? Citi

Great, thanks. I hate to ask about desktop, but I will. It looks like the desktop ad revenue actually declined sequentially. Is that just normal seasonality, FX, or is there any color there? I?d assume that you?d expect that to normally grow sequentially? And then could you talk about where you think advertisers are in terms of developing good creative for sponsored story ads? We?ve seen mixed success in kind of the ads we?ve tried to track to date. Do you feel that that?s a process, six-month, 12-month process, of advertisers really coming to grips with the most effective way to display those ads? I know it?s a ? you have to do work, they have to do work. Where do think the advertisers are in doing the work to help that product? Thank you.

David Ebersman

I?ll take the first one. I don?t think the desktop trend is a seasonal one. I think that we opened up a lot of inventory on mobile in this quarter, and so we had advertisers who shifted some spend that might?ve been on the desktop computer into mobile feeds, because our relationships with advertisers ? they?re not different advertisers on the two sets of devices, so I think that?s the trend you?re seeing there.

Sheryl Sandberg

On the question of where advertisers are, as I said before, we?re a third thing, we?re not TV, we?re not search. We are social advertising. And I would say our clients are in different parts of that adoption curve. We have clients who have done a lot with us. They?ve now increasingly, especially this year, seen the results and seen how it affects their actual in-store sales. And they really understand it, and they?re doing more and more. We have some clients who haven?t done as much and haven?t quite figured out how to do this. And I think it?s going to be a slow but steady progression. We see more people doing more and understanding how to make social ads really work for them.

We?re also working hard at developing better tools. So some of the things we?re announcing and working with ? if you think about Custom Audiences, Custom Audiences enables you, an advertiser, to segment to different parts of their customer segment different ads. That?s really important for making those ads perform better as well. And all the work we?re doing on measuring is also really important, because by measuring, we not just prove the results we have to marketers, but we then get results, which we can then use to improve the ads.

Operator

Next we have the line of Jordan Rohan with Stifel Nicolaus. Your line is open.

Jordan Rohan ? Stifel Nicolaus

Thank you so much. I hope this question comes across okay. Click-through rates may indeed be high on the Feed. I?m curious if you?re able to measure how many of these clicks are accidental and intentional or due to the smaller form factor of smartphones? Put another way, do you see difference between the click-through rates in the Feed between small-form-factor handsets, which are mobile, and larger-form-factor tablets, which may also be considered mobile, but where one could see fewer fat-finger clicks? Separately, do you have any feel for post-click conversion rate metrics that could enable an advertiser to equate the value of a click from Facebook, whether it?s mobile, desktop, or wherever, and a click from Google or ? and how you think about that?

David Ebersman

I think on the first question, I mean, there are inadvertent clicks on every platform for every company that shows advertising, so it?s just something for us to continue to be aware of and monitor, but I don?t think it?s a specific issue to Facebook, and I do think over time it?s the kind of issue we?ll be able to make good progress at managing.

Sheryl Sandberg

On the second question, which is basically the efficacy and the value the ads provide, it really depends upon what the different products are and what people are measuring. We are seeing our products create great value and create increasing value in many cases for our customers. But different people are measuring different things. So with brand advertisers, they?re looking for a brand lift, all the brand metrics people look at, ad recall, affinity, and then sales, which we?ve just started the process of measuring this year. With other advertisers like Mobile App-Installs, they?re looking for those mobile apps to be installed, and we?re measuring all of those across the spectrum.

Operator

Next we have the line of Doug Anmuth with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Doug Anmuth ? JP Morgan

Great, thanks. Just wanted to ask two questions. First, just going back to ads in the News Feed, can you talk about where you think you are now in terms of coverage and inventory levels versus where you could potentially be going forward? Just trying to get an understanding here for how much more gains there are from inventory versus advertisers, more advertisers coming on board and driving pricing up higher? And then secondly, can you talk a little bit about the early benefits that you might be seeing from the Facebook Ad Exchange, how much inventory has been opened up here, and is there any chance that the Ad Exchange can help stabilize the sequential desktop declines that you?re seeing? Thanks.

Sheryl Sandberg

On the mobile ads, as you?ve seen, we?ve definitely put a lot more ads into Feed as part of growing the mobile revenue. I think you?ll see us increasingly put ads in Feed as well, but there?s a lot of growth that comes not from just more ads in Feed, but from better ads in Feed. Every time an ad is more targeted, more relevant, the marketer gets better value, and it?s better for the people in Feed. And if you look at the types of ads we have in Feed, while we?re really pleased with the progress of increasing our mobile revenue, we also think we have a long way to go in making those ads better, more relevant, higher value. And we?re at the very beginnings of that. We?re measuring across all our different ad products the value they provide for marketers and people, and I think you?ll see a lot of progress in quality, and we believe that progress in quality will translate to revenue as well.

On the Facebook Ad Exchange, it?s really early. We just took the Facebook Ad Exchange out of beta in September. We?re not really seeing breakdowns of how much each product is generating in terms of revenue, but that one is small, and we are going to scale each product as we feel comfortable that they?re a great experience for people and for our marketers.

Operator

Next we have the line of Brian Wieser with Pivotal Research. Your line is open.

Brian Wieser ? Pivotal Research

Thanks for taking the question. Can you dimensionalize the nature of your advertiser base between small advertisers versus large brands that work with agencies? And secondarily, can you talk through the geography of the advertisers, not the users, but how the breakdown diverges? And specifically with mobile, is much of it coming from the U.S. versus internationally? Thank you.

Sheryl Sandberg

When we think about the four key marketer segments we have ? brand, direct, local businesses, and developers ? they?re all very important to our revenue in advertising. And they?re important in different ways. The brand advertisers are really important for the engagement they drive and the reach that they?re buying and the sales they?re able to generate. The direct marketers, as we?ve done more with FBX, Custom Audiences, those products work across the board, but they?re particularly important for direct marketers.

The local business story is a very good one this quarter. We?ve long believed, and I?ve long believed, that this is the Holy Grail of the Internet, that local businesses have the ability to really generate a lot of revenue and provide a lot of value for the people who see those ads. But it?s just really hard to get local businesses online. We?ve had great numbers of local businesses who are using our free products. We have 12.8 million have Facebook pages, 8 million of them use that page monthly, and over 3.5 million post weekly.

But what you saw this quarter with the launch of Promoted Posts is a really big step function in converting those people who are using our free page product into paying customers. With over 300,000 pages using Promoted Posts, 25% ? more than 25% of those are from new advertisers. So we?ve always had this thesis that people will use our free products and then as we roll out products that are easy and simple for local businesses, we?ll see broad adoption. And I think we really saw that here.

And with developers, we continue to iterate on both the Payments side and the advertising site. We think Mobile App-Install Ads ? this is very early and I want to stress how early it is ? but they?re also very promising.

David Ebersman

In terms of advertising revenue by geography, the discussion I?ve provided thus far was by user geography. You were asking about where the revenue is attributed if you focus on where the advertiser comes from, where we?re going. As you would imagine, the revenue is going to skew more to the developed world in that kind of a comparison, because you have large global companies that are trying to advertise to users throughout the world, more than you have people in developing markets who are trying to reach people in the United States, for example. So if you were to pick the U.S. as an example, the by-advertiser attribution of our ad revenue to the U.S. is going to be considerably ? maybe not considerably but a bit higher than if you look at it by attribution in terms of user geography.

Operator

Next we have the line of Daniel Ernst with Hudson Square Research. Your line is open.

Daniel Ernst ? Hudson Square Research

Yes, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my call. Mark, sort of a big-picture question for you. As you?ve transitioned to more of a mobile environment where on the web, Facebook is essentially a platform that applications run on, to the mobile environment, where Facebook for the most part is an application that runs on other people?s platforms, whether it?s Apple or Android from Google.

And how does that change the opportunity, the way you look at the business long term? And as a related matter to that, as you look to monetize the Open Graph network with so many applications and websites that link into you, what do you see as the opportunity to begin to push the ad network beyond mobile into other websites and use your social data to actually push ads outside the network? And could that be a business that takes a life of its own above advertising on your own, by itself? Thanks.

Mark Zuckerberg

Yeah, I think it?s a good question. And this is why in my opening remarks I spent a bunch of time talking about how I think that in this counterintuitive way, I think a lot of folks have the question that you have of whether the fact that iOS or Android are these mobile platforms, is that a worse environment for Facebook? And I think what we?ve found that is because of these three compounding factors ? more users, more time spent, and the ability to have more monetization, which we?re not there yet, but we think we?re going to get there ? that we?re actually much better positioned on mobile than we were on desktop before. And I think some of the trends and data points that we?re laying out here today kind of start constructing that case a bit more.

In terms of the actual platform, we?re really an information-sharing platform. We never were an environment for running apps, right? Even on desktop, when you have these games that are very deeply connected to Facebook, they?re not building in some kind of Facebook environment. They?re basically building websites that connect with Facebook and make it so you can pull your friends in and then use Facebook for distribution and sharing. So what I see on mobile is I don?t think that developers are going to be building apps that are literally inside the Facebook app. But what we do see is a lot of success in getting developers to connect their apps to Facebook.

So I mentioned these stats where eight of the top 10 iOS apps are connected to Facebook, and 40% of the top 400 iOS apps have the Facebook SDK and are using that in some capacity. So to me, that?s a good sign. And we don?t directly compete with iOS or Android to be a platform for developers as an environment for building apps. And we think that we can basically build an environment, or build this information platform that goes across iOS and Android and mobile web and every other mobile platform that?s out there where every developer who?s building anything on any of those can use Facebook. And we think that that puts us in a really strong position.

Operator

Next we have the line of Rory Maher with Capstone Investments. Your line is open.

Rory Maher ? Capstone Investments

Thanks. First question?s for Mark, and then I have one for Sheryl. A lot of the call has been taken up by creating better monetization products for some of your advertisers. And I?ve been hearing recently about some kind of juxtaposition between user rules and advertising rules. And I know a lot of people point towards the Burger King ad that the app got pulled because people were de-friending people. I?m just curious, is improving -kind of making that process more clear, is that part of your strategy to kind of build out more monetization products? And how do you manage between that and your users? And then Sheryl, you said, I think ? I don?t want to misquote, but I think the payments from Zynga were down about 20%. Other games were up about 43%. Did we see similar movements in advertising from games on your platform to acquire users?

Sheryl Sandberg

Just starting off with the Burger King, that Burger King thing, if I?m thinking of the right thing, was many, many years ago. It was an old app that was -

Mark Zuckerberg

It was violating our policy.

Sheryl Sandberg

It was violating our policies by encouraging people to de-friend. I literally think it might?ve been two or three years ago. That?s long gone.

But in terms of the balance between good experiences for users and good experience for marketers, we don?t think these are in conflict. We really think they work together. When an advertisement is better for people because they like it better, it also creates more value for marketers. And so our strategy going into that strategic priorities we have is to build products that create value for all of these marketers, measure that value, make it all work on mobile. And we?re not really trading off the user experience versus the marketers? experience when we do this well. When we do this well, we launch products like Offers that see broad adoption and see people passing it off to their friends.

In the Offers example, since launch just this quarter, 100,000 pages created an offer. And of our top 100 offers, on average three-fourths were done by non-fans. That means that people are passing this through the social ecosystem, and their friends are finding it valuable. That?s an experience that?s great for people and great for marketers.

David Ebersman

To answer your question about Zynga ? or I guess about really advertising in general ? as our Games ecosystem has become more diversified in terms of the companies who are doing well, generating Payments revenue for us, we would imagine and do see a ? also diversification of ad spend from those developers.

Deborah Crawford

So, operator, we have time for one last question.

Operator

Our final question, then, will come from Anthony DiClemente with Barclays. Your line is open.

Anthony DiClemente ? Barclays

Thank you very much. Sheryl, just wondering, if you could point to any particular success stories on sources of off-line demand generation ad dollars that maybe you could point to? I imagine early on a lot of the sources would be from online, be it display or fulfillment. But is there anything, for example, like print media dollars moving over from newspapers or magazines or otherwise? And then another question on the competitive environment, perhaps for Mark. Just wondering what you?re seeing in terms of users and engagement in international markets where there are other social media platforms that are ? any comments there? Is Facebook complementary in some of those markets? And how are you seeing kind of local behavior in terms of users and engagement? Thanks.

Sheryl Sandberg

To your first question, which is where the budgets are moving from as Facebook revenue increases, it?s really client by client, account by account, how people are doing their spend. We do know that every time we compete for a dollar of advertising, we?re competing against every other opportunity a customer has, whether that?s off-line or online. And our goal is to compare really favorably across all of those.

I think the way we?re really doing that now is by putting more products into the market that do a better job of serving the different needs of our different market segments. I think one question people have had is, God, you guys are rolling out so many products. Why? And why are you doing that? And how does that all tie together? And for us, we?re very clear. We have four market segments. We have three priorities. But we need multiple products to serve those different market segments, and that?s what you?re seeing from us. And I think that?s what enables us to compete against all the other advertising opportunities out there.

David Ebersman

In terms of the competition, I mean, we compete in all markets for user attention and time and things like that, and the competition looks different from market to market. So it?s sort of hard to give you a blanket answer to that question.

Deborah Crawford

Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. We appreciate your time, and we look forward to speaking with you again.

Operator

This concludes today?s conference call. You may now disconnect. Thank you.

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/944281-facebook-s-ceo-discusses-q3-2012-earnings-results-earnings-call-transcript?source=feed

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