A Facebook Want Button – Really?

*This post was submitted by Ryan of First Home Alarm. 

There is news on the internet that Facebook would be soon coming out with a want button that is similar to the existing “like” and “share” buttons. It is believed that this would be similar to Amazon’s wish list.  They said it could revolutionize the way people express themselves in the social media. It also has the potential to completely change digital advertising. The question that remains in everybody’s mind is whether we would like to publicize every like or want of ours, to online marketers?

It is projected that, similar to the “like” button, the want button plug-in would give a great boost to Facebook’s ongoing advertising campaign. Despite the approximate total of one billion users and advertisers that Facebook has, the complaint is that the social marketing giant does not make much money in comparison with the other social media sites.

On an average, market statistics say that Facebook makes only about 6.2 odd cents for every hour an user spends on the social platform. This is about 5% of the amount that a competitor social media platform (LinkedIn) makes under similar conditions. Now that the IPO is over and Facebook has gone public, it is obliged to justify to its shareholders the reason for such a large difference in ad revenue. Obviously, Facebook has to come out with a more compelling product that will justify these unfounded estimations.

Facebook hopes that the want button plug-in button could be that product. This plug-in will not only give an idea on consumer behavior and patterns but it would also generate a feedback on user needs and desires for similar products and purchasing preferences. Naturally, this would only please the advertisers and in return increase FB’s ad revenue.

There is also the possibility that the average Facebook user will like and benefit from the want button plug-in. There is no shying away from the fact that online  advertising is a reality and is here to stay. Hence, if a consumer receives relevant advertising info via Facebook, they would only benefit from it. In other words, assuming that a consumer has expressed his desire to purchase a product when it goes on sale by using the want button, Facebook would let him know about it when the product actually goes on sale. Not only the user gets to buy the product at a discounted price, but Facebook also gets advertising revenue. In short, if used in an ethical manner, everybody stands to gain from the want button.

According to market statistics, the minimum amount of time a Facebook user spends on the platform is over 6 hours a month and this only highlights the enormous reach that Facebook has. It is likely that users who already have the “like” button would adopt the want button. Hence, as the “want” and “like” buttons develop, Facebook will be able to generate a preference graph for each user, and this will be of great use to the advertiser, as they will be able to target preferrabilities and brand preferences to a selective target audience using the Facebook platform.

Will you be using the new want button?

This post has been brought to you by First Home Alarm – offers full home
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*This post is not a sponsor and I am not being compensated for it.

About Lisa

Lisa loves helping others to thrive online through Social Media, Blogging and SEO. What good is knowledge if you cannot share it with others?
She has 20+ years experience in marketing/advertising with 3 years experience blogging, social media and SEO.