Events observed in Israel include terror attacks, controversial elections and unexpected wars, the impact of which can be analysed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in terms of abnormal returns. Results show that defence and high-tech industries react positively to these events while other industries have a negative reaction. Recent data demonstrate that these events create positive abnormal market reactions when Israel is at war with Palestine and Lebanon because of the high number of defence and high-tech companies listed on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. A phenomenon of the ‘normalisation of terror’ can be observed in the stock exchange, as the market reacted negatively to events in 2002 but has become more resilient to recent events.

The social media websites phenomenon started in 1997 with SixDegrees.com, which allowed users to create profiles, list their Friends and surf the Friends lists. Facebook launched in 2004 and became synonymous with the growth of this sector, exceeding 1.1 billion active users in 2013. Russia is, however, a major country with open-market access where Facebook has not been in a position to compete successfully with local service providers. This article examines the defining features of social networking sites and their growth potential worldwide, looks at the factors which influence their valuation and analyses unique features of the Russian market which have to date prevented Facebook’s expansion.