"A Like Button on Every Shelf in Every Store": 5 Social Media Trends and Social Commerce Opportunities

Interesting post over at TNW (with useful commentary on PSFK) by David Reinhardt on five trends shaping the future of social media – online media supporting social interaction and user contributions.  Here are the trends – all falling within the meta-trend of convergence – and our initial thoughts on the opportunities they present for social commerce

1. Identity will become embedded in devices: Social media identities will be used to set up devices, and propagated into all applications.

• Opportunity for smart app-based loyalty programs and deal feeds that use social media identities to personalize communications?

2. Online sharing will become embedded in media life: With social identity embedded into the devices we use daily, social sharing will become an integral part of the way we enjoy media on our regular TV’s, DVD players and music players

• Opportunity for “A Like Button on Every Shelf in Every Store” where shoppers ‘like’ stuff they see whilst browsing in store (as well as a new generation of e-commerce enabled viral marketing – “saw this and thought of you” shares – where shared content/likes/links and commentary links through to online stores)?

3. Location will be embedded into all activities: Location aware devices will employ pre-emptive use of location to alert the user to things or people nearby that may be of interest.

• Opportunity for a new breed of tuangou group buy offers, bringing together real time flash mobs to buy in bulk in store?

4. Smart devices and web apps will automatically check-in and post updates: Identity aware devices, empowered by embeddable RFID tags, will allow this type of technology to spread beyond the mobile phone.

• Opportunity for smart gifting? A year’s supply of Nespresso capsules, auto-reordered by the connected coffee machine hooked up to the ‘internet-of-things’ when stocks are low…

5. Social networking will redefine how large organizations communicate: Collaboration will no longer be limited to sharing documents and version control, but will expand to the ability to find colleagues by shared interest and collaborate seamlessly in a multi-channel environment.

• Opportunity for “buying club” plugin for corporate social networks – like minded colleagues with similar tastes club together to buy in bulk?