The Blog of Burgher Jon

Yesterday I talked about how Facebook and Amazon have started dating with a little gimmick related to figuring out what to buy your friends for their birthday.  This morning another thought occurred to me.  How much do you think Amazon would pay Facebook to integrate a link to Facebook in to every fan page that depicts a product that they sell and to create a new page for those things that they don’t.  It would essentially turn Facebook in to a social front-end for Amazon.  I’ll bet it’d erase any concerns that Facebook can monetize with all the efficiency of AdWords.

“Oh look, Mike liked that book Fred told me about, I meant to read that… click, click, click, Amazon, click, click.”  <Begins reading off iPad or Kindle>

I originally had the title, Facebook friends Amazon but I bet between that and Amazon likes Facebook, you’re all about ready to kill every tech blog out there.  I am saying a little different then most of them though, I’m going a step or two lower then the press release.  First though, the basics of the gimmick.  Essentially the new option only allows the following things:

1. Alerts you of your friends birthdays on Facebook.
2. Allows you to see your friend’s wishlists (which you could already do, it just wasn’t easy to guess who had one or go looking for it).
3. Amazon pulls in your information from Facebook for recommendations (movies, music, etc… that you’ve like on your profile).

These are relatively minor things, and much to everyones’ relief the service is “opt-in” not “opt-out”.  Most people saw that much and walked away thinking it was only a trivial news story.  That’s not nearly a deep enough look for someone (me) who believes the current social web will change commerce as we know it (I can think of a half dozen places I’ve said so but perhaps this and this are most relevant).  The bottom line is this, the world’s BEST database about people and social connections is co-mingling with the world’s BEST database about products and personal desires.

I can think of several valuable queries that a facebook or amazon programmer can write without violating the current promised privacy:

• Facebook could allow an advertiser to advertise rafting trips to any group of five male friends between the age of 20 and 30 who all have adventure books on their Amazon wishlists.
• Offer a bulk discount to any group of 5 friends who all have the same book on their wishlist.
• Sort search results based on items other friends have added to their wish list.
• Sort search results in Amazon Music based on artists that you’re a “fan” of on facebook or that your friends are a fan of.

I can think of a ridiculous number of potential implications with only very minor changes to the current privacy setup:

• Follow up on your advertisement in Men’s Health by advertising on the facebook pages of all of the men who subscribe to Men’s Health.
• Suggest a book club based on people’s similar book selections.  Even recommend friends of friends that could join the club.
• Recommend something on Amazon (without saying why) because someone with an exceptionally similar Facebook profile bought it.
• When someone buys something on Amazon with gift wrapping and mails it to a friend, increase their relevance in the Facebook news feed.
• Every product on facebook should have a like button and a little box so I can see which friends have liked it.

Am I missing any good ones?  Particularly in the former category… I’d love to do a follow-up post with ideas from the comment stream.

According to TechCrunch, twitter might be messing around with the idea of displaying inline media right on their page.  To me, this is potentially a peak at Twitter’s answer to the biggest problem (I think) they’ll face over the next year: “How to compete with Facebook’s features, but maintain differentiation.  The little box that Facebook gives you (see above), is definitely sleeker and cooler then Twitter, who relies on Bit.ly and Twitpic for links and pictures.

The question for Twitter to ponder (and I don’t know the answer) is, should they copy Facebook’s idea.  There are a number of things to consider in this space:

1. It is possible that people prefer bit.ly and twitpic in spite of the fact that they are a little less intuitive and aesthetically appealing.  If some people prefer Twitter’s current method, copying Facebook would alienate those people and likely leave them with no reason to keep both Twitter and Facebook.
2. One reason for Twitter’s success is the fact that the various API applications give a wide variety of “looks” and “feels” for Twitter contents.  By leaving tweets in this “raw” format, I can choose a client that either shows pictures inline or one that gives me a twitpic link, the decision is mine.
3. Some people do still use text message based Twitter, how would they see more robust tweets?

I read a lot of nonfiction books (here’s the list), I think this is nonfiction number 14 (overall 15) for me on the year and I’m used to finding ones that are labeled “fast paced” and “easy to read”.  The reality is, few of them live up to that expectation.  David Kirkpatrick achieved a quick pace and an easy read with The Facebook Effect.  He adeptly combined a narrative of Facebook’s history with an overview of some of the issues and opportunities Facebook faces.  He has chapters on the political ramifications of “owning” online identity, privacy, Facebook’s cultural aspirations and monetization all woven in to the fabric of the story without making you feel that you’ve left the fireside story telling of Facebook’s history.

The bad news is, the story is horribly biased.  Kirkpatrick claims to have interviewed about 50 people in the company and about 50 people outside the company.  Those outside the company ranged from investors to former employees with huge holdings in the company and all the biased individuals in between.  It truly feels like the story had just enough embarrassing moments sprinkled in to make it feel believable, but certainly not enough to be the whole truth.  If there are 1000 pictures that clearly show how Facebook grew up these last 7 years, this book shows you the 50 they’d post on Facebook.

The bottom line: If you like Facebook or startups or good non-fiction, definitely read the book.  If you’re looking for the “you can’t handle the truth” version of Facebook’s history, you’ll have to wait until a less authorized telling hits book stores.

I don’t regularly trade commodities as valuable as sauerkraut, prefering to focus on more commonly accepted economic commodities like worthless gold and silver.  If I were to trade sauerkraut futures though, I would be in BUY mode today.  You see, there’s been a tragic accident at one of the few Sauerkraut manufacturers in the US, The Fremont Company.  A large concrete roof collapsed and experts are unsure how long the sauerkraut assembly lines will be down.  In the mean time, its highly recommended that you gather up some reserves and possibly even learn to make your own.  Until next week though, it’s every man for himself.

Now on to the purpose of Sauerkraut Sundays… As I go through the week, I use Twitter to send out little updates and links.  I realize that I do this quite a bit and that not all of you use Twitter, so with that in mind I’d like to take Sunday to do sort of a week in review.  I’ve selected the most useful of my tweets from the last week and placed them in to the categories that I use in this blog.

Business

• BNY Mellon’s 2nd Quarter profits up nearly 400% year over year (right at analyst expectations though) http://bit.ly/bcdzKE

Blog Info

• The Blog of Burgher Jon gets some love from Global CTO of CapGemini, glad he liked two of my fav posts: http://bit.ly/c014fI

Me

• For all my Charlotte friends, when I say I’m missing Petty in the Burgh tonight, I mean Tom not Richard. NASCAR’s dumb.
• I love redoing things, it allows you to be busy all morning and still feel unproductive.
• Restaurant week, give me my food cheeper bitches. (@ Sullivan’s Steakhouse) http://4sq.com/64ylsS
• Last week there was a serious momentum shift in my world. This week, time to make sure that train gains speed.

Personal Technology

• If you’ve been using Google Voice on Android, this is a great development (otherwise you won’t care) http://tcrn.ch/bfJony

Pittsburgh

• I had no idea Kaye Cowher was so sick. Prayers with Bill and his kids.http://bit.ly/c23Gyc
• RT @PCPGH What color shirts do you want this year? Remember: Registration for PCPGH5 opens Aug 1!!
• Council passing a resolution “demanding” moratorium on shale drilling is as effective as me whining on Twitter that they’re wasting time.

Other (Mostly Humorous Comments from the Week)

• What an innovative idea for a “tape” deck. http://bit.ly/acVs8R
• Pittsburgh reporter explains how airlines charge for sex.http://bit.ly/9UwfxR
• Wait, there’s a Legoland USA? RT @msuster: Andy (4.5) sneaks on driving course for 6+ at Legoland, USA (beg for forgiveness )
• Silly Bandz = kiddy bling.
• It just occured to me, there are people finishing college next year who were born in the 90s #NOTCool
• If I were British Open Champ Oosthuizen, I would pronounce my name “Oh Oh sthuizen”. #BritishOpen
• Ha! RT @thesulk: Sometimes when I feel old I watch the Real World and thank god I’m old.