The first signs of the marked slowdown in the pace of global growth impacting the Irish economy have become apparent recently, with announcements of imminent job losses in a number of high profile tech companies. This is part of a worldwide retrenchment plan by these companies, who acknowledge that they expanded their workforces too rapidly in the past couple of years, given we are now facing into a period of much weaker global demand. Social media companies, in particular, appear vulnerable to a downturn in advertising revenues.