If you’re one of the millions of people that use Facebook, you may be aware that the social networking site is notorious for caching customer information (your likes, dislikes, purchases, friends, and so on). Plus, thanks to their changes in privacy policy over the last couple of years, they are now selling that information to third parties that would like to find better ways to market to you (in order to convince you to buy their products). Of course, thanks to a recent agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, you’ll soon have the ability to opt out by bumping up your privacy settings, but it seems that Walmart squeaked in under the wire with their Shopycat app.
Alright, so it’s not exactly Big Brother, and some shoppers may even appreciate the fact that they are receiving content that is more relevant to them personally (rather than being bombarded by ads for penis enhancing drugs, for example). But the truth of the matter is that the app functions by tracking the movements of you and the people on your Facebook friend list, which everyone can probably agree is a little unsettling. So what exactly does this app do and how is Walmart using it to make your shopping experience better?
The Shopycat app, the first from Walmart’s newly developed @WalmartLabs division (which aims to take the business into the social networking and e-commerce spheres) is a simple idea with a complex inception. Walmart wants to help you find gifts for your friends (ideally by shopping in their stores). So they utilize software (developed by recently acquired Kosmix) that collects information about the people on your friend list and compiles it into usable data that can be filtered, sorted, and matched up to Walmart products. Then you are given a list of gifts that would likely be suitable for the people you are connected to on Facebook. In short, it’s going straight to the source and finding out what to recommend.
And Walmart isn’t the only one taking this approach to streamlining the user experience based on information gathered via social networking. EBay is also looking to beef up sales by figuring out what users like. They recently acquired Hunch, a platform that tracks purchases in order to make predictions about what customers might like and then “customize” their experience by recommending current listings on eBay. And have you noticed that ads popping up in your browser reflect your recent online activity? It’s not just the government watching, as George Orwell predicted in his sci-fi thriller 1984; EVERYONE is watching you.
So if you browse new car listings, for example, you might start seeing ads for auto insurance. Or if you peruse shoes on Nextag you could be bombarded with discount shoe ads. And if you preload a Mango MasterCard for someone, suddenly you’ll find yourself inundated by reload card advertising. Although Walmart is taking a slightly different tack by targeting your friends, the goal is the same; to make you buy. And this isn’t the end by a long shot.
