Facebook is like a giant whale with many little fish (err, birdies?) lapping at its table crumbs…
Only those crumbs are actually gold (users) that is being gathered virtually for free. If Facebook doesn't hop to it (and in some cases perhaps is too late, in light of sites like Pinterest), those fish are going to surge past what may become the ultimate fail whale…
From today's post, "New Web Order – Facebook Is Losing E-Commerce", on the New Web Order comes some great insight into where social commerce is headed (and in fact, it turns out, not to Facebook):
Bloomberg has a report out today about retailers shutting down their online Facebook stores due to lack of interest and activity from users. The headline example is Gamestop – who, despite having some 3.5 million fans on Facebook – recently shut down its Facebook shopfront because it didn't take off with users.
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The market at the intersection of e-commerce and social has already been established and is growing rapidly, but it is leaving Facebook behind. Pinterest is one of the fastest growing products ever, and recent estimates (although possibly wildly inaccurate) suggest that the site is already achieving tens of millions of dollars in affiliate revenues from its 10 million (and rapidly growing) users.
…
Outside of the core Facebook features – notes and photos from friends, the design of Facebook is terrible. As a user I find myself anxious when clicking on any link outside of the standard view. Despite using the product for over five years, I have zero familiarity with it. Other products that I use as often I can navigate almost blindly, yet with Facebook all of the features beyond the main timeline and posting interface are a huge jumbled mess.
I think it just goes to show how young social commerce really is and how much of an opportunity exists within that space. And as long as Facebook continues to seek out domination with the 1-platform-to-rule-them-all attitude, there sits an even greater opportunity for those like Pinterest and X.Commerce (which is a whole other conversation I realize…) to continue marshaling Facebook's users as their own and deliver a truly great user experience in the social commerce sphere.
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