The big news of last week seems to have been the slew of coverage around Facebook’s new verbs. Now instead of just letting users “like” everything on Facebook, marketers can allow them to “eat,” “drive,” “read,” “play” or do anything else that pertains to their business requirements. Most importantly to commerce, this means you can “want” or “buy” something and Facebook will automatically tell your friends.
Ponara Eng gave a packed room at the Science Museum of Minnesota a preview of what this means for the future of F-commerce last Wednesday morning as part of the first monthly MIMA meeting of 2012
So, why the change? According to Mashable, “The move was prompted by Facebook’s assertion that the Like button constrained sharing because it was an implicit endorsement of content. Facebook wants users to share everything they are doing, whether it’s watching a show or hiking a trail, so the company decided to create a way to ’express lightweight activity.’ “
This news is fulfilling a promise made when Facebook first announced at their F8 conference in September that marketers would be able to start using whatever verbs they want on their sites and apps.
But the big deal here has to do with “frictionless,” which means users will be able to opt once into sharing all of their activities from certain sites and apps. The frictionlessness means some will end up sharing a lot more about their online activities, which will in turn be seen more by their friends. This has the potential to drive virality and ultimately clicks back to the marketers website and increase the bottom line.
What actions would you like your users to start sharing with others?