Facebook explains Credits as “The safe and easy way to buy things on Facebook”. Currently it can only be used in some +150 applications, these mostly being games such as the Zynga hits; Mafia wars, farmville etc.
Its obviously easy to predict the very near future of Facebook being a giant market place for anything. Big brands such as Dell and Startbucks already having millions of fans on their pages, with Facebook Credits they are soon able to sell their products directly on Facebook.
This means two things:
- Facebook is now, more than ever, the biggest threat to Google. The user never has to leave facebook to find a product and make the purchase, Google’s adverts are then never displayed and Google’s business model threatened by this now giant social e-commerce portal called Facebook.
- Facebook is going to want a piece of the profit of the sales. Rumours say 30% which is what Steve Jobs takes from the Apple Appstore.
Brands with a lot of fans on their pages have probably asked them self how they can convert fans into buying customer. Simply put: how to do lead generation in social media. Facebook Credits will solve this problem, to a cost believed to be 30%.
