Lets say you have an extra guitar and you wanna sell it.. How would you go about it..?? MOst probably, you will try to spread the word around through your friends in your social network, see if someone you know is interested.. if no, then go to ebay like auction or craigslist type listing service...
Why..?? Well, if the transaction happens within your social network, both the transacting parties are winners.. the feeling of benevolence for the seller is a lot more pronounced when he knows the buyer personally, at the same time, for the buyer, the social bond translates to trust in transaction..
This is no rocket science. Its simple proven psychological behavior.. It really does surprise me that no social networking website or online auction website has productized this knowledge to reap insane profits..
Imagine you putting a listing on your MySpace/Facebook/Orkut profile for your spare guitar.. All your friends will know about it, they will pass on the word to their friends, someone intersted will contact you and the transaction will take place, MySpace/Facebook/Orkut will either charge you a fix amount to put up a listing or make money as percentage of transaction. Idea of ebay-like auction within social network can be worked out similarly as well..
Social networking is big today.. people have been pondering about how to make money out of em.. everyone believes there is a huge monetary opportunity there, but how is a question still to be answered. I think merging social networking with online auctions or listing services is defintely a promising avenue..
Chris DeWolfe, Pierre Omidyar/Meg Whitman.. Are you guys listning..?? :)
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2 comments:
I don't know if we talked about this, but I was thinking of blogging on the EXACT SAME topic!!! deja vu?
And.. Facebook wins the race...!!! Facebook marketplace is out and its thriving.. :)
I sooo love facebook.. :)
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