On April 24, Mark Zuckerberg spoke about Facebook’s development plans at a quarterly earnings call. He announced that FB and its sister services (Instagram, WhatsApp) would earn from e-commerce and payments rather than ads. All the details can be found in this article.
Present and future of Facebook’s family
The first quarter of 2019 demonstrated that Facebook’s family was making increasingly more money from e-commerce services, although it has only started to introduce full-fledged e-commerce platforms. For instance, Facebook has launched Facebook Marketplace, a platform where companies and individuals can sell and purchase goods, as well as Instagram Checkout, which is a beta service that enables a user to shop for products without leaving an app.
Zuckerberg claims that ads will remain the platform’s key source of income. However, Facebook is planning to generate more profit from e-commerce payments, sales, and interaction in the future. Ads will still be there, but they will only complement e-commerce platforms.
To this end, Facebook is planning to expand the range of services provided in Marketplace и Checkout. The company will probably introduce a payment service, which may serve as the foundation for interaction both within and outside the platform. Experience shows that users are willing to pay through payment services. More than 600 million people are now paying through WeChat, the most popular Chinese messenger.
Facebook and WeChat comparison
After the announcement, a lot of people immediately started comparing Facebook with WeChat, as the company management touched upon establishing a seamless payment service. However, these platforms are totally different and won’t evolve in the same manner. It’s highly likely that Facebook will take a different path to implement these services.
WeChat was developing gradually. With the course of time, new services such as payments, moments (the equivalent of Instagram’s stories) and other opportunities for social interaction were integrated into WeChat, which has eventually become an e-commerce platform.
Facebook’s situation is totally different in this regard. The company wants to establish an integrated e-commerce platform based on its existing apps and services. A seamless infrastructure and a single payment service will be developed for this purpose.
However, it’s also possible that this payment service will be integrated into WhatsApp. India is currently testing the internal payment system, and Facebook can actually develop its own solution. Time will tell how the situation will unfold, and we will watch it closely.
What does it mean for affiliates?
When Facebook launches its e-commerce platform, it will become even simpler to buy goods on the Internet. This will result in more advertisers promoting their products online. Affiliates who will master these new formats will be able to make a good profit. We will stay tuned!
In order not to miss the latest news and keep abreast of all interesting events, subscribe to our website and Facebook. Funny and Interesting moments in the working process of ZorbasMedia team look on Instagram!
If you want to reach new GEOs and audiences, maybe it is all waiting for you on Telegram? We’ve prepared some material about Telegram audiences. What are the messenger’s users like this year? How old they are, what they do, and what they are interested in!
