Social Storefronts

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The Digital Age has changed many habits of humans.  People now share their thoughts, feelings, and even current location with their social networks.  There has been quite a lot of talk about how to monetize a social network, and the model does seem a hard one.  But then I realize that people are willing to share information, and this can be applied to making money through a social network.

Social Networks are going to start to see Storefronts in the coming months.  These storefronts will be portals to drive sales to companies websites.  What we are going to see is people sharing with their social networks exactly what they want.  For example, say I want to purchase some sandals.  I decide that I’m going to browse the American Eagle Catalogue.  So instead of going to the website, I go to Facebook and type in American Eagle.  It brings me to the Fan page, and I go to the store tab.  Through that tab, I make a purchase, and similar to other social apps, I post on my wall “I just bought item XYZ from American Eagle.”  My friends are then able to comment on it.

I would say that Facebook would make a commission off of the sale, something small like 10% of the sale.  Both are happy and it’s a profitable model for both of them.  I imagine we will see widespread integration in the next year or so.  Eventually. most of our decisions will be social, often asking the audience what they think of something.

 

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net