Just a few hours ago, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Facebook. “We just passed an important milestone. For the first time ever, one billion people used Facebook in a single day. On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family.
When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different. This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it’s just the beginning of connecting the whole world.
I’m so proud of our community for the progress we’ve made. Our community stands for giving every person a voice, for promoting understanding and for including everyone in the opportunities of our modern world.”
This is a big thing. 1 in 7 people on this planet used Facebook in one day. (And to put that into context, according toilettwinning.org as many as “2.5 billion people don’t have somewhere safe, clean and hygienic to go to the loo”.
But what is interesting is that despite being in a position to really get involved with ecommerce, Facebook doesn’t really seem to have struck a blow yet. Surely it wants a slice of the ecommerce cake?
Admittedly, a little more this year, I’m meeting people who do successfully sell on Facebook but it seems to be relatively small concerns that do. Often crafts or small home based businesses. Very often mums in local groups shifting kid’s items. All good stuff but I wonder why it’s not more.
Do you sell on Facebook? How’s it going? Couldn’t Facebook be a real alternative to eBay, if it got it right?
10 Responses
People going to a site for non buying reasons generally despise being advertised to – this is why adblock is becoming a huge ‘problem’.
Facebook haven’t acted since one wrong step will lose them everything. It’s not a particularly well designed website and it’s fair to say that while Mark’s rollout was a great move – it wasn’t intended for what it became. It was just a stroke of luck. If they annoy their users too much they’ll just use something else.
yeah facebook users operate in a cliquey environment , all right if your flogging organic jam , or some ethnic tree hugging quirky cure all potion
Facebook adds are fantastic for small business,both on and offline.Being able to target a set of people for a couple of pounds is fantastic.Whatever people say Facebook really do make things possible whatever your size.
I used the adds last year before i had a website and so had to point to Amazon listings.Sales went up a lot.This year i have a website and have just today started to run adds on Facebook again.Being able to drive traffic to my website for whatever amount of money i choose really is great.
As said above though add blockers etc might become more of a problem.Facebook need to be careful they get the mix right.
If you’re thinking about paying for higher visibility in ebay, I’d suggest boosting a post in facebook instead.
I’ve had some website sales this week shoving my best seller onto a few thousand peoples timelines for $20.
The cliquey group thing is a bit annoying, I wish they’d just make a single marketplace site for their users
Facebook is not too keen to adapt its strategy simply because it is crushing the market without complicating things for itself. If people are willing to give away good money for virtual ‘likes’, why reinvent the wheel? Why try selling something of actual value, when people are happy to part with money for nothing, as long as you let them ‘target’ superfluous, nitty-gritty details. Just let them think that they’re achieving something and the show goes on. Producing nothing is much easier.
Yes, yes, fb has value when it comes to sharing your life’s story, chatting with relatives and aimlessly spying on people you’ve never met or seen in years. For serious business however, I’d recommend LinkedIn, for peddling petty handmade trinkets etsy and ebay have things together. People don’t come to fb with the buyer’s mindset, so pushing your product there makes for a hard, cold sell.
Facebook is already an e-commerce threat to ebay! We trade on ebay, Amazon and our own web store and have seen dramatic changes over the past 12 months with ebay sales dropping 75% and these sales have migrated to Amazon and our own site. Our own site cleverly links in with facebook so our customers can actually purchase and checkout within facebook https://www.facebook.com/brideboutiquepage/app_410312912374011?ref=page_internal
Where facebook are already eating into ebay’s trade is with their local selling pages. My wife used to sell preowned clothes, furniture and bits and pieces on ebay but page views have been so bad that she no longer sells used goods on there and uses Facebook instead. Over the past month she has sold over 50 items using facebook.
Facebook is so easy and best of all its free with no fees to worry about.
.
Re “with no fees to worry about.”
YET!
As eBay are/have cracked down quite successfully on the rogue element of seller who sells empty iPod boxes to the uninitiated, no doubt this element will move onto FB unless FB set up a proper system.
I don’t see it happening in a hurry, if FB want to avoid occupying the ‘Wild West’ of the internet that eBay certainly did (and to some extent, still does).
I can’t think of a better way to ruin a site’s reputation than open its doors to the criminal fraternity.