HW #6

I chose the article Facebook Shopping Apathy? Smart Plays On F-Commerce that was published on 2/17/2012 on Forbes.com by Eric Savitz and Wade Gerten.  In 2009, Gerten opened up the first store on Facebook, for 1-800-Flowers.  This store allowed Facebook users to visit the brand’s Facebook Page where they could review offers and also make purchases right there and they even allowed people to buy things from their Facebook News Feed.  They thought that they should make millions because Web users spend 53% of their time online but they were wrong.  In the article, they stated, “The best way to monetize social media is to empower people to promote products to their friends not for brands to spam you on Facebook. Online shopping experiences are better when they’re social.”  Ticketmaster did not take part in Social Commerce to put their website on Facebook.  They made it easier for you to discover concerts from your Facebook friends and they also made it easier to find someone to go to the concert with you because you can invite people within the ticket purchase flow.  Delta Airlines gives Facebook users a better way to plan a group travel because they know how hard it is to plan it with your family and friends.  Another quote from the article is “Almost 90% of the shopping activity we’ve tracked on Facebook over the last 6+ months has been between friends sharing things with other friends.  People drive social commerce (not brands).”  Ticketmaster and Delta Airlines realized if they get out of the way then people will have an easier time telling their friends how they feel about them and their offers.  Facebook has recently come out with new enhancements to their Open Graph platform that makes it possible to integrate shopping and social media anywhere on the Web.  These Open Graph-integrated websites allow people to tell their Facebook friends what they think of an item that is for sale as well as what article they are reading or what band they are listening to.  Examples of the new Open Graph are Spotify, the Washington Post and Fab.com.  According to the article, “The rich intent data available via the Open Graph will enable brands to usher in a new era of ecommerce that is shaped by people and around people.”  I agree with that statement and think that the Open Graph is a great idea and will certainly help products being sold more because they will be able to see what their friends think about it.