Portable Social Graphs Imagining their
Potential 3 Dec 08

page We believe that portable
social graphs coming from Facebook, MySpace, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are going to transform how consumers interact with digital technology and each other. Marketers and web product managers must take notice today. Here are some really provocative examples using Facebook Connect. Imagine if your competitor was doing some of these things. But first some context…

page On July 23 rd
, Mark Zuckerberg introduced us to Facebook Connect.

page Facebook Connect is the
next generation of the Facebook Platform. It gives any website the power of social context that is currently only found within the walls of a social network.

page Trusted Authentication: connect your
Facebook account with any partner site using a trusted authentication method Real Identity: take your real identity information with you anywhere on the web Friends Access: stay connected to friends and family anywhere on the web Dynamic Privacy: your Facebook account privacy settings will follow you to external websites According to Mark, Facebook Connect’s features fall into the following four buckets:

page A few sites have
already implemented Facebook Connect. Here’s what we are seeing: Facebook Connect as an alternative to site registrations Sites are allowing users to login through Facebook Connect, presenting an easy and quick alternative to normal registrations.

page Facebook Connect allows users
to share site actions back to the Facebook News Feed After making a comment on a website, sites are prompting users to publish stories back to their Facebook profile.

page Facebook Connect provides a
way to find existing friends who use the same site . Facebook friends who happen to use the same site are automatically surfaced and presented to the user.

page This is all great...
But you are seeing today is just the tip of the iceberg.

page When a user logs
in through Facebook Connect, the website has access to an unprecedented amount of user data as well as the ability to seamlessly integrate their web services into Facebook features like events, photos, messaging and status. We see a new breed of web sites coming… Please note: the mock-ups you’re about to see are concept sketches that we are using to illustrate the potential of Facebook Connect. These are not actual products nor have we worked with any company to create these mock-ups.

page What if Amazon implemented
Facebook Connect? Key influencer identification By logging in through Facebook Connect, Amazon can determine that you have a relatively high number of friends, wall posts, and tagged photos for your demographic. This information indicates that you’re likely to be more influential online. Amazon could present you with special offers in an effort to reach out to online influencers.

page What if Amazon implemented
Facebook Connect? Product suggestions through profile scraping Amazon can suggest products to you using your Facebook profile data. This data can include: brands you are a fan of, age, gender, location, stated interests and more. In this case, you have been offered Tommy Hilfiger polos because you are a fan of the brand on Facebook and a member of a college network that the shirt sells well in.

page What if Amazon implemented
Facebook Connect? See reviews from people you know Don’t waste your time wading through hundreds of reviews from strangers. If your friend has reviewed a product that you’re interested in, their review will be surfaced and promoted.

page What if Amazon implemented
Facebook Connect? Consult your friends at the point of purchase Any friend currently online on Facebook is at your fingertips. Chat with them about a product without leaving the page.

page Now imagine your own
ecommerce presence leveraging Facebook Connect in a similar fashion. Your customers will be able to harness the advice from their friends and family to make more confident and happier purchasing decisions. This isn’t just for Amazon, it’s for every retailer online.

page But leveraging a social
graph goes beyond enhancing a retailer website. Imagine a new generation of social utilities enriching human experiences online…

page What if iTunes implemented
Facebook Connect? Top songs that matter With Facebook Connect, the most popular songs can be determined by those who you actually know. You can even see what music specific groups of friends from college, work and your neighborhood are listening to. iTunes Store Artist Page

page What if iTunes implemented
Facebook Connect? The real groupies An iTunes with Facebook Connect can analyze song plays to determine which friends actually spend the most time listening to an artist. With that information, true top fans can be established. iTunes Store Artist Page

page What if iTunes implemented
Facebook Connect? A music profile with rankings and recent plays See your friend’s rankings relative to the people in your network. Chris Ferro is a high-ranking ‘discoverer’, meaning he finds future hits before anyone else does. Chris Ferro’s iTunes Profile

page What if iTunes implemented
Facebook Connect? Find your music soul mate By tracking the play counts of you and your friends, you can find out who shares your love of the same music, surfacing new dimensions of your relationship. Chris Ferro’s iTunes Profile

page What if iTunes implemented
Facebook Connect? Integrated events Facebook Connect allows sites to plug into Facebook’s event system seamlessly. Users can create Facebook events, view guest lists, and RSVP without ever leaving the site. In this case, you could see which online music events your friend is attending and RSVP for it, automatically saving the event to your Facebook Calendar all from iTunes. Chris Ferro’s iTunes Profile

page What if iTunes implemented
Facebook Connect? Online listening parties with your friends Artists could host virtual listening parties for unreleased albums. Chat alone with your Facebook friends as the album plays or open the conversation up to the entire iTunes community. iTunes Listening Party

page But should an idea
like this be restricted just to iTunes? Think about any digital application or service and how it can become a social utility. We live our lives among our families, friends and in our communities. Our digital lives can and should be more social too. The next time you’re organizing an event, launching a product, or providing a service to your customers online, think hard about whether it needs to be a social utility as well.

page We believe portable social
graphs are also going transform mobile which arguably is the most social application out there.

page What if iPhone games
implemented Facebook Connect? Simplified tournament planning Want to gather your buddies for a racing tournament? A Facebook Connect version of an iPhone game will automatically detect friends that have installed the app and allow you to publish a Facebook event without leaving the screen. Crash Bandicoot Tournament Planner

page What if iPhone games
implemented Facebook Connect? Social gaming outside the walls of a social network Playing a video game with friends once required everyone to be in the same room or a very organized group of friends all gathering online at a single time. With Facebook Connect, social gaming lacks that hassle and is still every bit as fun. Racing With Friends

page What if iPhone games
implemented Facebook Connect? High scores and records that matter See high scores relative to your school, hometown or workplace. Once you earn a record, post it as a newsfeed story with one click. Post-Race Awards

page So the iPhone is
cool and social games on an iPhone are even cooler. But this idea doesn’t need to be restricted to the iPhone. Just as Google Docs is influencing the nature of collaboration so too can our social graphs be integrated into our mobile experiences more directly. What’s going to be the Blackberry social killer app or the Windows Mobile social utility that’s harnesses the social graph?

page But there are some
risks Facebook could change the rules. We also can’t be sure about how Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and MySpace will implement their versions. Potential privacy uproar. We saw this once with Facebook Beacon. We could see it again if Facebook isn’t careful with the roll out of Facebook Connect. Users may never become comfortable with logging into other sites through Facebook Connect or some other external username and password. Companies may not like losing control of the registration and login process on their websites

Want to learn more? Contact
us at [email_address] or at [email_address] You can also visit us at http://jessepickard.com http://goingsocialnow.com http://razorfish.com Special thanks goes to Daniel Stern, May Shi, Malcolm Ong and Jesse Stay for all their help with this presentation. page