Facebook rolls out “Want”button
Content with over 1.13 trillion clicks on its famous “like” button launched since Feb 2009,Facebook recently announced the launch of its new “want” button, similar to the “like” button with more promise for e-tailers to turn the social networking site into a social shopping forum. Facebook is testing this feature with 7 retailers, including Pottery Barn & Victoria’s Secret, which will allow users to create wishlist of items they desire and announce it to the world at the click of a button.Other Retailers involved in the program are Wayfair, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com. FB said it is “creating three distinct groups of users to test each action,” referring to the Like, Want, and Collect variants of the Collections test. It translates into options for users to identify themselves as “wanting” a product in a vendor’s Collection, or in the process of “collecting” it, in addition to “liking” product content tagged by the participating retailers.
How will it work?
The new button will be placed alongside images of home furnishings, clothing, and other retail products that consumers will want, and the information will appear on the news feed of the connections of the user. The collect button will allow users to create wishlists of products they desire to have, and share it/display it on their profile. Users can actually click through these buttons and purchase them online , and will be redirected to the original website of the retailers.
How will it look?
This is how the prototype will look like.
Honestly. a “dislike” button is what I (and millions of users) was expecting , and this want button makes me wonder what Mr. Zuckerberg might be planning for the future to capitalize on the social wallet of 1 billion users. IMO, with a dislike button in place,online retailers would have got the feedback for not only what the customer likes, but also what he/she dislikes,and that information is becoming increasingly important for marketers trying to comprehend the nuances in Gen Y behaviour. It is evident from the dominant online opinion, and also from FB’s actions that it has chosen to balance the tightrope of appeasing investors and users alike. What remains to be seen is how would the success of this button compare with Pinterest, which is proven to be better at driving purchases than FB- 69% of Pinterest users found an item they would like to purchase, while its only 40% for FB. Also interesting would be post “want”FB’s performance pitted against Google,whose bread and butter still comes from ad revenues. Till then, its game on!