Introduction
Facebook is one of the largest social networking sites in the world, if not the largest.
Every year, Facebook adds new functionalities and features for the billions of global users within the social media platform only.
Ecommerce is one of the latest features that is currently being in the process of inclusion within Facebook platform although various marketplace functionalities have been rolled out already.
Presentation Outline
This presentation discusses about the movement of Facebook into ecommerce.
Furthermore, the presentation also discusses about the main issues that may be faced by Facebook, or rather its users as a whole due to the ecommerce activities conducted through this platform.
The presentation also presents certain recommendations regarding the solutions to the issues highlighted.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case
The case discusses about Facebook trying to commercialise its social networking platform by allowing various ecommerce retailers to sell products using this platform.
Initially, Facebook started the trend of commercialisation by inserting paid advertisements in the platform – the users were able to view various advertisements while surfing through the news feed of the app.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
In order to allow more customised ads to display in the feed of users, Facebook launched a tool that allowed customers to select specific categories of ads that they wanted to see.
Facebook also experimented with various other tools regarding commercialisation and advertisements through the platform.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
Currently, Facebook is planning to move another step ahead with direct e-commerce feature through which the users can make purchases.
The proposed feature involves the addition of a “buy” button that will allow the customers to place an order directly through the Facebook page.
Currently, various e-commerce retailers operate through Facebook pages.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
The current e-commerce retailers display banner ads that pop up on the news feed the user is scrolling.
If the user clicks on the banner, it directly redirects the user to the retailer’s website through which, the customers can pick and order products.
Facebook’s proposed functionality is to enable the option such that the entire process is done within the Facebook page only without having to be redirected into a new website.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
Now, considering the implications of the features proposed, there are a number of privacy, security and fraud issues that may come into play in this case.
Unlike verified and trusted sellers like Amazon, eBay and others, the Facebook feature can be easily misused and exploited by fake and fraud retailers.
These issues are further discussed in the coming slides.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
The first major issue that can be highlighted in this case is the high chance of spam.
Numerous fake sellers can spam the timelines and news feed of the users by posting fake ads in the platform.
This issue is prevalent even today, as there are thousands of fake sellers who post ads in Facebook on regular basis.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
The issue of spam brings forward another possible issue i.e. fraud.
An example situation may be when a user opens a banner ad by clicking on buy option, it immediately redirects the user to a fraud website that may inject malwares or virus files to the user’s device.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
Even if there is no encounter with malicious files and the customer is able to place order successfully, the order may not reach the customer at all.
As evident from the current case studies of fraud apps, there are many fake sellers who do not provide option of “Cash on Delivery” and the buyers are forced to pay while placing orders.
If the seller is fraud, the customer loses the money forever.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
Another major issue that may arise is privacy issue.
Privacy issues also arise from the fraud sellers that may pop up in the Facebook ecommerce marketplace.
In this case, various user information may be stolen by the fraud seller and misused for unethical purposes.
Discussion of Issues Presented in the Case (Contd.)
Many Facebook users enter their personal information on the site as well as they are forced to enter information while making a purchase online.
The fraud sellers can take advantage of this situation and steal information like bank details, credit card details and others that can be misused for purposes like stealing huge chunks of money from the user’s bank account and others.
Solutions and Recommendations
Considering the risks associated, it is not recommended for Facebook to implement ecommerce in such an open platform where a million users can visit a page at the same instant.
Even if this feature is ultimately implemented, Facebook needs to implement some policies and mechanisms to minimise the chances of occurrence of these issues.
Solutions and Recommendations (Contd.)
Registration of the seller must be done through a strict verification process in which the background and every minor details of the seller are verified.
Facebook should have an internal firewall system that will block the users to be redirected to a fake or fraud website.
There should be some policies that the sellers must fulfil to continue operating through the Facebook platform.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the proposed functionality of Facebook is currently not safe to implement considering the available policies and setups of the Facebook platform.
The recommended features and policies must be updated before rolling out the ecommerce feature.
Awareness should be raised among the Facebook users to be aware of fraud sellers and they should be encouraged to buy from verified sellers only.
References
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