Sunday, November 27, 2011

Can Social Shopping Finally Take Off? Some companies still trying to integrate social networking and e-commerce

By Erin Griffith, November, 22, 2011, AdWeek.
Analog shopping is inherently social. There’s the flea marketstroll, the girls’ outing, and the time-honored encounterwith a mall Santa. But e-commerce, a category that’sexpected to reach $200 billion this year, has yet to reap full benefitsof the social networking revolution. The two seem as compatible asreindeer and sleighs, yet the universe is littered with proof ofawkward pratfalls. (After all, who wants to learn on Facebook thattheir significant other bought an engagement ring at Dave’s DiamondBarn?) That explains why Facebook killed Beacon, a function thatautomatically published a user’s e-commerce interactions to newsfeeds. Apple’s Ping, which shared iTunes buys, flopped..... Read more.