Comments on: How Easily Should Social Networks Reveal Friends To E-Commerce Sites? http://storefrontbacktalk.com/e-commerce/how-easily-should-social-networks-reveal-friends-to-e-commerce-sites/ Techniques, Tools and Tirades about Retail Technology and E-Commerce Sun, 20 May 2012 01:49:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: George Eberstadt http://storefrontbacktalk.com/e-commerce/how-easily-should-social-networks-reveal-friends-to-e-commerce-sites/comment-page-1/#comment-64017 George Eberstadt Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:50:46 +0000 http://www.storefrontbacktalk.com/?p=3807#comment-64017 A few points of clarification: "What if the customer, for example, has only one or two friends listed? Wouldn't this notification of "one of your friends has shopped here" be a privacy violation?" => The system requires that the shopper have at least 50 friends before showing a count of matches. (That limit doesn’t apply to friends who have opted in to having their names shown, of course.) "Wouldn't they be more likely to simply pose that question to their friends directly?" => Many people are hesitant to blast all their friends with “Hey, anyone know about X?” messages. People are much more likely to seek advice when they know who to ask. And sometimes, there’s no need to ask – just knowing that friends also shop at the same store is enough. "Most merchants would rather the system stay silent unless a friend is discovered to have shopped there." => If there is no first-degree friend match, TurnTo shows other things like friends-of-friends, neighbors (based on zip code), popular items, and highly recommended items. So the system can still be helpful to the shopper while also giving the feeling of a crowded, buzzing store. George Eberstadt Founder and CEO TurnTo A few points of clarification:

“What if the customer, for example, has only one or two friends listed? Wouldn’t this notification of “one of your friends has shopped here” be a privacy violation?”

=> The system requires that the shopper have at least 50 friends before showing a count of matches. (That limit doesn’t apply to friends who have opted in to having their names shown, of course.)

“Wouldn’t they be more likely to simply pose that question to their friends directly?”

=> Many people are hesitant to blast all their friends with “Hey, anyone know about X?” messages. People are much more likely to seek advice when they know who to ask. And sometimes, there’s no need to ask – just knowing that friends also shop at the same store is enough.

“Most merchants would rather the system stay silent unless a friend is discovered to have shopped there.”

=> If there is no first-degree friend match, TurnTo shows other things like friends-of-friends, neighbors (based on zip code), popular items, and highly recommended items. So the system can still be helpful to the shopper while also giving the feeling of a crowded, buzzing store.

George Eberstadt
Founder and CEO
TurnTo

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