Social Shopping the next "In" Thing?

As we discussed on Friday, our monthly newsletter (which will be distributed today) will highlight the world of Mobile Marketing. I learned a lot in the 6th Annual Global Mobility Roundtable sponsored by USC's Center for Telecommunications Excellence this past weekend.

One of the topics that is closely intertwined with Mobile Marketing is Social Networking. Obviously, the wireless phone is becoming another way to interact with friends, business and all types of social networks. The concept that drives this is Web 2.0 -- as defined by Wikipedia, "a social phenomenon embracing an approach to generating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and the market as a conversation."

In a post by Mitch Joel of Twist Image, he points out that a new social network is taking hold -- Social Shopping. In fact, Joel feels that by looking at how far online social networking has come in the past few years gives us a realistic indication of where Social Shopping is headed in the very-near-future. Joel states, "If we’re currently doing it to find other like-minded people who have similar interests, what makes you think we would not do the same thing to find others who are similar to us in terms of our commercial interests … especially if the price becomes more attractive as the social shopping network grows."

As direct marketers, we need to pay close attention to this rapidly growing phenomenon. It will change how our customers interact with us, and those who change their marketing paradigm quickly in order to embrace it, we believe, will become direct marketing leaders within their industries.

Jump on board!