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 The Battle, Who is Fighting and Why

Robert Scoble wrote a great article on the battle between Facebook and Google to capture the “Social Shopping” market.  Social Shopping has been around for a long time, albeit on a smaller scale before the Internet.  It says that the people who influence our decisions are the ones closest to us.  If my best friend loves something I will give it much greater consideration than if I just saw a random advertisement for it.  With the growth of Social Networks and the almost instantaneous availability of information streaming from people, the concept of Social Shopping has taken on new meaning.  Now people don’t need to run into one anther on the street to tell each other about the great shirt they just bought, or the movie they just saw.

So backing up to Scoble’s article.  He very clearly breaks down purchasing something into three phases.  Phase One is Need Generation, basically becoming aware of something or beginning to want something you didn’t before.  Phase Two is Research, where you are learning about what you will get, searching for what’s best for you, and finding out what others think.  This is the Social Shopping phase.  Phase Three is Purchasing, where you are basically looking for where you will complete the transaction.

Scoble goes on to say that Google has locked up Phase Three by controlling the search market.  No argument there.  But it is in Phase Two that the battle is being fought.  Facebook has Facebook Connect and Google has FriendConnect.  Both are attempts to facilitate and capitalize on Social Shopping. Interestingly enough, neither are finding much traction which has left those in the Social Networking space scratching their heads as to how to monetize this concept.  All the pieces are there, why isn’t it working?  Indeed no one really knows.

Some Answers…Maybe

Scoble, again points to one company that is tipping the scales in their direction using Social Media.  Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library.TV is a great example of how someone is using new technology to reach into Phase One and Phase Two to create demand for his product.  Gary sells wine and essentially creates Phase One in people’s mind by broadcasting a show highlighting different wines.  He then reaches into Phase Two by allowing community to flourish around his broadcasts.  People comment, share their experiences and make recommendations to one another.

And another answer, which isn’t mentioned in Scoble’s post, could revolve around Geo-Tagging technology, or the ability to leave messages in location-based physical space.  While it may be more possible than ever to put Social Shopping “information” out there, it isn’t accessible to people when they can use it. Geo-Tagging could bridge this gap.  Imagine a situation where you could access all kinds of recommendations from a network, be it friends on a Social Network or impartial parties, on virtually anything in the physical world while you’re actually there.  This will require a critical mass to work but has already proved viable on the Internet by sites like Yelp.  The reach of relevant social information to mobile is definitely coming…the question is when and through whom.

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