5 Ways the new Features on Facebook will increase Social and Online Retail Sales

The Facebook f8 developer conference unveiled a few exciting new features for the social network.  These features included a customisable open graph and a real time news ticker.  All of the new features unveiled are set to have an out of this world impact on social shopping and social commerce in the very near future.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to come out from the conference was developers will now have the ability to build a tailor made Facebook commerce experience which will be more relevant to any online shopper. Not only that they will be able to develop the social discovery for online sellers.

What sellers will now be able to do is access insights into the shopper preferences. They can then use this data to their advantage and promote their products much more effectively. These new Facebook developments mean that anyone using Facebook for shopping will now have a more enjoyable, richer and social shopping experience.

This article explains five ways in which these new features will fuel the demand for social commerce and product discovery.

Better self expression for shoppers

The Facebook shopping experience will now have a new level of relevance through the use of custom open graph gestures. New buttons will be visible including ‘Want’, ‘Own’ and ‘Love’. These buttons will allow shoppers to specifically find particular products.  As well as that, Facebook user news feed stories will also be customised to specifically display phrases like ‘John reviewed’, or ‘John liked’ this product.  By having these posts visible on the news feed stream, social discovery will be much more effective than someone posting ‘Like’ on a story.

Facebook has many shop fronts within the social network platform. These new buttons will add to the already popular social shopping experience. Future enhancements will include you been able to see who actually ‘owns’ the product that you are considering buying and if you are interested you will be able to connect with that friend for recommendations.  Having this functionality makes it much easier for sellers to engage on a deeper level with shoppers. An example, I discover the John owns a particular product in my storefront so I am able to ask him for a review of that particular product.

Product Discovery through Ticker

The new ticker is a great addition as it creates a real time stream that sellers can use to publicise their product to prospective shoppers.  The ticker will display what the shopper is looking for. For examples John visits a store in Facebook and clicks the ‘Want’ button on a particular product. Based on this selection the news ticker would then display a feed that reads ‘John wants a blackberry at the Blackberry shop on Facebook’, or something similar.

However, one point to note. This is a very powerful facility and developers should only publish the activities that shoppers agree to promote. This is important if you are looking for a surprise gift, you will not want all your friends knowing about it if the gift is for one of them.

The ability to create wish lists

Another great feature of this new Facebook design is application activity.  Application activity will now create persistent modules on a person’s timeline.  Through the use of different social shopping widgets you will be able to post to a specific person’s profile. Theses posts can include holiday wish lists, wedding lists and even birthday wish lists. Through custom action buttons, these wish lists will be automatically created. For example, if any ‘Want’ button is clicked a wish list will be immediately created on the Timeline.

By adding these specific focuses lists onto your personal profile makes others aware of what you are actually wanting. It also makes it easier for your friends when it comes to them buying a gift for your anniversary or birthday.  What will happen is as soon as your friend receives a reminder for your birthday; all they need to do is click through to your profile and view your wish list.

Clearer permissions

When it comes to Facebook, the minute a new application is available we all go and rush to see what all the fuss is about. We are geared up to start using it but then hesitate when we realise how our submitted data can be used. The current permissions dialog box did not allow developers to explain why they wanted your permissions before you could use the app, so at this point users  didn’t feel they had enough information to make an informed decision about whether to use the app or not.

This new feature means developers have more control over the type of content that is displayed in the permissions dialog box. By having these permissions they are able to communicate how the person’s data will be used. By using the available social shopping applications you are able to explain the exact data that is going to be used and why you are using that data.

This new feature now gives the developer overall control of what content will be displayed according to permissions that have been set. Social shopping applications will be beneficial to the shopper as they will explain what the benefits will be to the shopper.  As well as a text explanation the timeline will also be able to handle screenshots. For example a permissions dialog might be used to explain what your Facebook interests are and how they will be used to provide product recommendations and exclusive deals that have been targeted to you.  Having this option is great for building up trust and encouraging user participation.

Shopping with Friends

When Facebook introduced the Open Graph and Ticker little did they know the impact it would have. It opened the doors to social music discovery. IT was because of this social shopping was introduced.

At some point in the future a new feature will be added. This will be an 'invite friends to shop’ button that is within a social storefront.  Once you click the button a post will be created and displayed in the Ticker that says ‘John is shopping for an iPad’. Once any of your friends click on the Ticker post they will be re-directed into a chat room style area where they can share iPad recommendations. This feedback is valuable as it could potentially be added as a public comment in the store. The end result is that before you have decided to make a purchase, you have asked your friend for advice on helping you make a decision on whether you buy or not. This ‘shopping with friends’ is a virtual shopping trip with your friends.