Facebook’s plan to introduce a currency called Facebook Credits will encourage people to spend on social networks but is a long way from becoming an activitymost people are comfortable with.
In February, Facebook announced in a blog post the beta test of Facebook Credits – a virtual currency that it aims to roll out across all applications, and which it hopes will increase the amount users spend on virtual goods. Only a few developers have so far been allowed access to the service to integrate it into their applications, but Facebook is slowly increasing the number of developers in the testing phase.
If an online currency makes people more interested in spending online, then this will only be good news for brands starting to look into social commerce. In the US, Disney has been the first brand to allow people to transact directly from Facebook by creating an app that lets them buy tickets to see Toy Story 3 at the cinema. In the UK, no brands have yet created an app where you can buy directly from Facebook, but the likes of easyJet and Dell are looking into ways to socialise their ecommerce experience.
Similarly, media owners looking at the possibility of micropayments could look to social networks and create apps in which people can access content using their Facebook Credits.
The majority of people are now comfortable shopping online, but the bad press about social networks and issues of privacy will prove hugely detrimental when inviting people to part with credit card or PayPal details.
For it to be worthwhile for brands to invest in social commerce on third-party sites, enough users need to be happy to part with their cash in social networks. Sites such as Facebook have a lot of work to do in gaining users’ trust before social commerce comes even close to being mass-market.