Introduction
Using Facebook, consumers may face the privacy concerns such as invasion of privacy, stalking, illegal discrimination, harassment, and phishing. Facebook is actively and continuously “experimenting with many different features” and collects information about consumer behavior trends based on Facebook likes and connections (Reynolds & Stair, 2017). In some ways, Facebook is crossing a fine line between effective e-commerce and interference in citizens’ privacy. The company intends to make trading recommendations and offers that suit the tastes and budgets of users. However, one should understand that monitoring a person without their consent is incorrect and unethical. Furthermore, there is a potential for using credit card details immorally or for fraudulent purposes when shopping online via Facebook.
Using Facebook’s Current E-commerce Offerings
Based on the case study, people are more likely to use Facebook’s offerings as in the case of buys on Amazon. Firstly, innovative technologies can identify the tastes and preferences of customers in advance based on their actions and then make offers to customers through advertising in the news feed (Reynolds & Stair, 2017). Secondly, Facebook has the same features as Amazon and even more, especially due to Canvas, video, images, texts, and “callto- action buttons” (Reynolds & Stair, 2017). Simply put, Facebook stimulates online sales through targeted advertising, whereas on Amazon, to a greater extent, people have to search for interesting offers on their own.
Online Research
E-commerce on Instagram allows users to create a separate store profile and integrate product catalogs. Pinterest has unobtrusive advertising next to the images, and Twitter has similar functions to Instagram, but links directly to the seller’s website, and even used goods can be sold here. They show not only contextual and visual advertising directly on the site, as on Facebook, but also provide an opportunity to get acquainted with a store’s catalog and see more products. In my opinion, Instagram will eventually become a strong competitor to Amazon in terms of sales. It has popularity among Internet users and people can share detailed photos of their purchases, make tags and discuss them with other users, and find out other people’s opinions.
Reference
Reynolds, G., & Stair, R. (2017). Facebook moves into e-commerce. In G. Reynolds & R. Stair (Eds.), Fundamentals of information systems, loose-leaf version (9th ed., pp. 266-267). Cengage Learning.