Share what you own with Timeline
Posted On Jan 22, 2012 at , 4:19 AM by SyahrizalFACEBOOK has added more than 60 new partners to its Open Graph, giving users the ability to automatically share information about what they want, love, own, cook, eat, watch, do and visit with their friends.
Facebook says the "Actions" will help people tell their stories on the social networking site with minimal effort.
Facebook Actions will be found on Facebook and on third party sites, acting as a more social and specific alternative to the ubiquitous "Like" button.
For the last couple of months Facebook users have been able to automatically inform their friends that they have "read" and "listened to" something via apps made by Facebook's existing Open Graph partners.
Now, Facebook intends to expand its reach with direct Action feeds from apps including Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Where I've Been, Foodspotting, Urbanspoon, Foodily, Pose, Pintrest, Polyvore, eBay, Livingsocial, MapMyRun, Rotten Tomatoes, Zynga, Monster, Foursquare and Digg.
"Soon, there will be apps for all types of interests, as more apps will launch over time. Whether you love snowboarding, gardening, hiking, or knitting, or something else, there will be an app for you," said Facebook in a post on its official blog.
Instead of posting an update informing friends that you have bought a new pair of jeans, you will soon be able to go to the store's website, find the item you purchased and click on Facebook's "Own" button, which will automatically inform your friends about your recent acquisition.
"If you love to cook, you can add the Foodily app to your timeline and share your latest dishes. If your friends have added the Foodily app, you can discover new recipes with each other, as you'll see their updates in the ticker and their timeline, and possibly News Feed," said Facebook.
While users might get a kick out of sharing Actions with their friends, it will be interesting to see how Facebook (and its app partners) uses such accurate and detailed information in the future.
One can only begin to imagine how Facebook Actions could be used to target users with highly specific, location-based ads.
As VentureBeat notes, the "Want" and "Own" buttons "are very obviously linked to reality-based purchasing intention and purchase patterns - not just what people are idly talking about on the Internet, but what they've actually put down money for in the recent past and what their acquisitive aspirations are." - Relaxnews 2012