Talk about an Empire in the making! I'm thinking that the Facebook Empire may potentially be a modern day Roman Empire.
Take a look at the Best Buy Facebook page and click on the "Shop + Share" tab. You're just a few clicks away from being able to make a purchase......right from your Facebook page. I'm sure Facebook makes a profit from Best Buy for this capability.
No big deal, right?
Look up Facebook Credits on Facebook. This page is About: "A safer, easier way to make purchases on Facebook." The Company Overview is: "Facebook Credits is a virtual currency you can use to buy virtual goods in your favorite games and applications on Facebook." With one click, you can purchase Facebook Credits with real money because "We accept credit cards, Pay Pal, Facebook Credit gift cards or mobile phone payments."
Still no big deal, right? This Old Dog doesn't participate in Facebook games, but millions of people do. In order to play these games, people buy the Facebook Credit currency with real currency from all over the world. I'm sure that Facebook makes a profit on the purchase of Facebook Credits.
Change the Facebook Company Overview by removing "virtual" and substituting "games and applications" with "stores and businesses": "Facebook Credits is a currency you can use to buy goods in your favorite stores and businesses on Facebook." Marry Best Buy and uncountable numbers of businesses to this new currency.
Big Deal.
In this and in a much broader sense, Facebook is perfectly positioned to be the gateway, and the gate-keeper, of a tremendous volume of commerce from 600 Million (soon to be One Billion?) consumers. Consider these possibilities, among potentially limitless others:
Perhaps Pampers agrees to pay Facebook a premium to be the only diaper company on Facebook. Huggies, are you listening?
Suppose Facebook someday decides to charge $10 of Facebook Credits per month to Facebook users: it doesn't "cost" Facebook users, really, they can use their $10 of Facebook money (that cost them $10 of real money) to buy anything online from Facebook companies. Those using Facebook don't really mind, they are still using Facebook essentially for free. As Facebook consumers become comfortable with this arrangement, perhaps Facebook evolves to charging an ongoing $10 per month user fee. That is $6,000,000,000 income (soon to be $1,000,000,000) per month.
Eventually, Facebook develops their own Facebook Credit Card.
Your purchasing habits through your Facebook is valuable information for those who wish to market to you. Another potential profit center for Facebook.
The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
Still don't think this is a Big Deal?
The Roman Empire had its' own currency. We all learned in high school History class that one of the crucial elements of Rome's power was the transportation system of Roman roads.
The roads of the Facebook Empire reach every corner of the earth. All roads lead to Facebook?
Thanks for sharing 152 seconds of your day,
Smitty
P.S. Perhaps this post has stirred a thought or two? Click below and Post a Comment. Share your thoughts - - I enjoy conversation!
2 comments:
An interesting thought, Smitty. A facebook store with it's own currency, credit cards, exclusivity...Perhaps this is the way the world is moving. We have already seen the burst of online stores and classifieds like ebay and craigslist. It appears that the majority of population buys or at least checks out the market online for almost every household item. I think that in these days, if a company is not at least considering selling their product online--they'd be dead in the water.
Now I totally get why the Harvard twins are appealing the latest court decision. In my mind it was over and they needed to move on. Never considered the totality of what FB could become.
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