

My Facebook App: iGot, what Beacon should have been. (Let me know what you think) - Readmore
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5908324398

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myoung8
Actually, I think Beacon is what Beacon should have been. The problem with
apps like iGot is that it takes effort and time on the part of the user.
Beacon is effortless. Yes this can result in privacy issues, but if the user
is worried about privacy s/he can easily change the settings.

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Readmore
Perhaps, but simply putting my face in a news feed next to a product doesn't
mean I like it, it just means I bought it. If you really want to know what I
think about something you need to hear what I have to say. iGot let's you tell
your friends to stay away from a product just as easily as it lets you tell
them how much you love something. I think that's an important distinction.

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dcurtis
How often do you buy products you don't like?

Anyway, this is more of a product/service review application than a
notification system like Beacon.

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tarkin2
I've bought some product, mobile phone accessories for one example, that have
worked okay for a while but after while have become completely useless. I
wouldn't want Beacon to advertise them, especially not until I've used and
tested them for quite a while, which is unfortunately exactly what Beacon
would do.

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dcurtis
I don't think Beacon's job is to suggest products to other people, just to
notify them that you have made a purchase. I wouldn't consider someone buying
something as an endorsement for the product, but I do think it's an
interesting, though useless, thing to know.

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tarkin2
It gives that manufacturer and product publicity though. And that publicity is
linked to your interpersonal relationship with your friend. Although that
isn't explicit endorsement, I would argue it's implicit endorsement, and
nevertheless that affects your propensity to buy a product and your view of
that manufacturer.

I have no problem with iGot's explicit endorsement, but Beacon's implicit
endorsement appears to leverage your interpersonal relationships for marketing
benefits, and I'm not keen on that idea.

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Readmore
That's the distinction I was going for, with iGot you have choice to endorse a
product or not. Maybe it would be good to combine the two. If you allow Beacon
to post your purchases you could then use iGot to tell your friends what you
actually think about that product.

I don't think Facebook makes Beacon data available to App developers but it
would be interesting to play with.

