Seemingly this Sunday is proving quite a good one for some digital thinking from brain MBB. Normally reserved for one post a day or one a week, this is the third today and perhaps they may be some more to come tonight.
The term Social Graph was initially coined by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook about a year ago, but has since become the choice of term for all those “Social Media Gurus” out there. A Social Graph is effectively your level of connection and interaction, your connectedness within platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Your Social Graph is where the smart platforms will monetize your connectivity. I believe this is where Facebook will make a significant income and help justify their valuation.
But what does it mean to us, the consumer, Joe Public. Well, the Social Graph won’t just make money for Facebook. It will make money for you as well. So you aren’t laughing at those people with 2,000 connections now are you? Effectively, the Social Graph allows you to become an affiliate.
An especially powerful affiliate in my eyes as 78% of consumers say they have bought products within social networks on the recommendation of a friend, 45% have bought products based on any recommendation in a social network. There is clearly money to be made.
If you imagine that for every person you have a connection to, in my case 200 on Facebook, there is the potential that another 10 per person may see your message. If I post a recommendation on a product into my news feed it will go into 200 other news feeds, plus be seen by a potential audience of 2,000. Say for example, I am working on a CPA basis of £5 and I get a conversion of 5%, (Car Insurance perhaps?) that would give me a return of £500 simply for a short recommendation on Facebook. Suddenly the proposition seems pretty attractive.
There are companies who do this sort of thing already, BzzAgent is one that springs to mind. However, the ultimate is the more genuine of being able to act as an affiliate for a brand you really love.
Fancy figuring out your potential income from your social graph? http://apps.facebook.com/viralloop
