Facebooks wants users as sales reps

P2P means Peer-to-Peer or, as we prefer to define it, People-to-People.

With that definitely in mind, bSocial Networks is trying to establish a marketing concept it’s calling C2C, short for Consumer-to-Consumer.

Facebook last year came a serious cropper when it tried to introduce Beacon applications to allow advertisers to literally track people as they moved around online, leaving a highly exploitable trail of personal data.

Stung by the instant reaction of users, who saw the scheme as privacy invasion, Facebook is hoping a financial incentive will be more successful.

With the help of bSocial Networks, it wants to talk users into acting as sales reps.

Nor is it alone. MySpace is also on board.

bSocial Networks’ Market Lodge, “revolves around the notion that consumers are more likely to buy merchandise or services recommended by someone they know and trust,” says the Associated Press.

It’ll pay Facebook members a 10% commission on all sales made on their recommendations, says the story.

“Facebook members who decide to use Market Lodge can customize their own stores, selecting from more than 1,200 products sold by about 50 different merchants,” says AP.

bSocial says its Market Lodge says is, “the first consumer-to-consumer (C2C) eCommerce engine for social networks live on Facebook and MySpace, to monetize user-generated recommendations without relying on an online advertising model.”

It goes on >>>

Market Lodge enables social network users to build personalized online stores within their profiles in less than five minutes, turning social networks into online “bazaars” with members recommending, buying and selling products.

Through C2C recommendations, virtual friends of the Market Lodge user can purchase products directly from the social network profile. Unlike other eCommerce sites, the seller does not fulfill the order. Fulfillment is completed by a network of Market Lodge vendors that stock and ship the items. Thus, the social network, vendor and Market Lodge user all receive a percentage of the completed sale.

Market Lodge users can also become friends with social network “strangers” who share similar product interests online, building their social network.

Only 100 people have signed up for Market Lodge since it “quietly rolled out last week,” says AP, adding Facebook won’t, for the moment, receive a cut of the sales made through Market Lodge.

But, “bSocial Networks eventually may consider sharing revenue with the social network or other Web sites that might be interested in the application”.

Hands up anyone who believes Facebook or, for that matter, MySpace, are giving bSocial access to their users out of the kindness of their hearts.