Minnesota, USA -October 13, 2011 - With the excessive advertising , loads of information floating around pertaining to friends' 'likes'/activities, and the multiple ways in which this can be viewed, it should not be a surprise that Facebook wants to become a 'social' merchant; however, the user response is not as open to shopping as Facebook expected. Unfortunately for Facebook, people flock to it with the intention of 'socializing' and not 'buying'. Yet, Facebook is bound to change this and EBay also wants a change in platform like this to include 'socializing'; with a common goal, these two companies could change 'socializing' and 'buying' into a different experience.
The Vice President of X.commerce, Matthew Mengerink, describes the shopping experience for consumers as being lonely and individualistic; for this reason, X.commerce and Facebook are determined to find a way to get users to interact more when it comes to online shopping. The experience could be interactive, but that does not mean that everyone will buy the same products; users will simply get more input from friends and make better buying decisions.
Do not be afraid of this change; even though the applications right now are pointed more towards the 'point-of-sale' of the experience, companies like EBay and Facebook are trying to change the online shopping experience into what you could experience while shopping at a mall; you do not always need to buy a product but simply discuss it. Although you may not get the product, a friend or a friend of a friend might. It is not simply about targeting you but getting the ideas flowing from one person to the next.
