Turns out facebook may be courting more than the user’s intention to buy – they likely want in on the actual purchase itself. Introducing, the “Purchased” button.
Tom Waddington, the developer who found evidence for development of the Want button on facebook, has also discovered that Want will be joined by plug-in capabilities to show purchased items (products, games, items within facebook apps), and even donations – both charitable, and more interestingly, toward a group purchase, similar to Crowdtilt, according to techcrunch.com.
Liking, wanting, and now purchasing would not be such potentially powerful concepts together if not for facebook’s most important advantage of all – sharing. All indications lean toward facebook mounting an e-commerce platform on a grand scale, indeed allowing users to share purchasing activity, and perhaps even purchases themselves.
And while this would almost certainly be a grand slam, it’s hardly out of left field.
Today’s companies often prefer you visit them at facebook.com/insertproducthere than the company’s home url. The potential marketing mileage in this tactic has always been clear where awareness is concerned, but not nearly as dependable an indicator of consumer behavior. By offering a forum through which users can share purchases on their timeline, in the same way that they now share what music they’re listening to or what articles they are reading, facebook is building a one-stop-shop, as it were. We like it. We want it. We bought it.
