I'm looking at the process of setting up my own digital content storefront on Facebook. With Millions of Users, I think they might just be the new storefront of choice for merchants. What do you guys think?

I'm not a Facebook member, and don't plan to be. I find all the social networks to be irritating time wasters. So, no... you won't get my business.  

Even though this is the "information age" I found that being notified every time a friend of a friend of a friend of mine had a bowel movement was frankly TMI. Consequently I now log into Facebook once every two or three weeks whether I need to or not.

 BW I wasn't asking for your business. I'm asking what you think of the trend. Articles like the one I read today here made me start looking at Facebook as a more viable alternative to places like Rendo and DAZ that take a HUGE cut of your profits while at the same time making it harder and harder to sell through them. Just because you're not a member, BW, doesn't mean that out of the millions of users there I won't find a market.

Facebook is an unspecific social site. From my  experience on the web, having millions of visitors that don't want to spend money or are not related to what you do is completely useless. Not all is traffic, it's more important to have the right people. Rendo and DAZ are specific markets, so they work better.

Quote - Even though this is the "information age" I found that being notified every time a friend of a friend of a friend of mine had a bowel movement was frankly TMI. Consequently I now log into Facebook once every two or three weeks whether I need to or not.

 Did you read the article? It's not quite as "Unspecific" as you may think what with groups and fan pages and other businesses, even DAZ, Rendo, Content Paradise and Smith Micro have created presences there. 

And to comment on Phil's problematic TMI issues, those can be controlled by your privacy settings.

I suppose anything with that many eyeballs has sales potential. I'm not sure how the well whole social networking paradigm transfers to retail. In a subculture where people base their decisions on what their "friends" like, if you get a few dedicated buyers, it could certainly have a ripple effect. I don't expect it to displace dedicated 3D merchandise venues anytime soon but who knows.  My unsolicited opinion, I find the whole phenomenon rather bizarre, but it clearly fills a need/want for many, many people.

 Well it's already making a lot of people cash on silly facebook games. I don't see why Poser Content should be any different if you can reach all of the Poser and DAZ studio users who use Facebook.

I'm on FB, but I'm certainly never going to buy anything through them as they are very  promiscuous  with their users' information.  I'm willing to give some information, but I'm not a complete whore...

I don't think I would broker my stuff there right now.  Facebook has "everything", but if I look for poser content, I'm more inclined to look at it on poser oriented sites.

It's an interesting idea though, Matrixworks. I'd be interested to find out how it works out for you.

Quote - Even though this is the "information age" I found that being notified every time a friend of a friend of a friend of mine had a bowel movement was frankly TMI. Consequently I now log into Facebook once every two or three weeks whether I need to or not.

Exactly.
I only joined because so many of my family members posted their photographs there, and doing so was far more convenient for them than sending new pictures over and over again as email attachments.

Then my email account was hacked by professional thugs through Facebook, and I decided that whatever benefits the place might offer were far outweighed by all the negative factors.

So now i'm a social outcast, but those $#@!!! messages asking me to send some kind of (&^%$#@!!! eggs have stopped.

Quote - I'm on FB, but I'm certainly never going to buy anything through them as they are very  promiscuous  with their users' information.  I'm willing to give some information, but I'm not a complete whore...

The actual Shopping cart I'm looking at isn't through Facebook, it's through a site called E-Junkie and it allows you to basically set up shop wherever you can post HTML code for the shopping cart and item buttons. I'm only looking at using Facebook as the visible storefront because of it's connections with so many people. I could probably just sell my items through my home page here on Renderosity if it weren't for the question of whether or not that would get me banned from here. You can post HTML code to your home page here, that much I know.

Quote - I don't think I would broker my stuff there right now.  Facebook has "everything", but if I look for poser content, I'm more inclined to look at it on poser oriented sites.

It's an interesting idea though, Matrixworks. I'd be interested to find out how it works out for you.

I'm just wondering how much longer sites like this will be around. They continually piss of users and merchants alike on a yearly basis. Anyway, I'm not trying to sink the ship. I just thought it was an interesting topic to discuss after reading that article. I'm certainly not expecting anyone to agree with me as I don't have my mind made up on the subject yet myself.

Quote - I'm not a Facebook member, and don't plan to be. I find all the social networks to be irritating time wasters. So, no... you won't get my business.  

Totaly agree there Mister.and Face books definition of a friend---welll enough said!

P

There are already several Poser vendors on Facebook trying to make it into a commercial venture. I tend to ignore their offerings. To me at least, it's a bit like going to a cafe with friends and having someone coming table to table hawking their wares. Annoying.

Social networking and commercial networking should be two different entities. I even hate all the silly games and stuff on FB, particularly when I get on via my iPhone, where I have limited bandwidth (Australia > Telstra > 150meg/month).

my employer's firewall won't let me to sites like FB.  i am protected. 

one day, i'd like to see renderotica.  i feel am missing so much education by not seeing.

Quote - my employer's firewall won't let me to sites like FB.  i am protected. 

one day, i'd like to see renderotica.  i feel am missing so much education by not seeing.

You haven't missed much :biggrin:

Quote - > Quote - my employer's firewall won't let me to sites like FB.  i am protected. 

one day, i'd like to see renderotica.  i feel am missing so much education by not seeing.

You haven't missed much :biggrin:

I agree with you there, Frank. It's all a bit edgy, not really all that erotic, but then my interpretation of "erotic" is probably a lot different to most people's. I find the power of suggestion to be infinitely more erotic than graphic depiction.

Hmmmm, perhaps I'm confusing 'erotic' with 'romantic'.

I have to agree with the others, I don't think I would feel safe in using my credit card on Facebook, for anything.  Not any time in the near future at least.

But since I'm usually drawn to the weird and horrific (like gawking at a traffic accident) I usually spend some time on FB to see which one of my friends' friends' friends are having a bowel movement, and now I can find out the exact location where they are having one too!

BTW, for all my friends on Facebook, sorry, you have already missed my bowel movement for the day.   And this thread/post is taking an extremely ugly turn.....please continue as you were!

Oh Robyn, you're such an erotic...er...romantic

I had a friend complain that someone was bugging her to help them with their "farm" on FB. I didn't know what the heck she was talking about 'til I read an article about some guy making a killing on this scam, excuse me game. I think the operative factor there is that the games are tied in with the whole addictive nature of social networking and interaction. I'd be looking at how to capitalize on that. If you can make the products somehow part of the interaction, then it could take off. Given FB's notoriously cavalier attitude toward privacy, I definitely couldn't see shopping there but I'm sure there will be no shortage of folks who will do so eagerly. 

Quote - With Millions of Users ...

It seems reasonable to think that their might be a market for art, artwork on physical items (T-shirts, mugs etc) and possibly for "tube" like products.
I can't see 3D products getting a big boost in sales, as the number of people that have FB accounts but not accounts at one or more of the current stores seems likely to be tiny (as compared to vice versa).

Quote - I think they might just be the new storefront of choice for merchants.

It could well be an additional venue for merchants, but for various reasons (enumerated below) I doubt it would be popular with customers.

Would you really trust FB with your CC info ?
It's almost certain that it would be as awkward to keep what you've bought private, as most data people expose to FB is.
It would be a copyright/trademark nightmare.
There wouldn't be any of the testing and QC as done by existing 3D stores.
FB would likely take a larger cut than existing stores to support the staff needed to handle all the back office functions (shipping, download resets, refunds, chargebacks, disputes, copyright and other complaints etc.)

Quote - I'm just wondering how much longer sites like this will be around.

How long will 3D sites be around? As long as there are people using 3D products, I suppose. To me, selling 3D on Facebook is like selling any very specialized item at a 5,000-acre general flea market with everything under the sun for sale. The odds of someone needing your specalized item walking up to your table are much smaller than if you're selling at a 3D-specific venue.

But good luck in your venture. Just be ready for spams & scams.

Have to agree with the others hate facebook and twitter and all that. Good luck though.

I don't expect anyone who hates the site to be converted. I'm not using Facebook to collect anyone's CC information. I'm using E-Junkie with PayPal. Facebook is just one additional storefront. My signature now points to my, currently slim pickin's, storefront at E-Junkie. I'm going to have to get busy making some new content now. E-Junkie gave me a 10 week free trial to see how it goes.

What would i need Facebook for? I got you guys...;)

In short, no.

DAZ and Rendo were in business long before Facebook came on the scene and will be long after something has come along and replaced it.

Well, one thing Facebook has that Rendo is still lacking is the ability to put things and people you don't wish to see on ignore, be it your best friends bowel movements or someone spamming their game play. You don't HAVE to see it.

But sadly even though I'm not with Facebook or that Twitter nonsense, it's not possible to ignore Facebook or Twitter. People talk about it, you can read about it and soon there is even a film by David Fincher about that Facebook crap creator or whatever.

Now here: "Will Facebook Eat Renderosity and DAZ's lunch?" No, certainly not.

Ten years ago AOL seemed to eat everything and Yahoo was the No.1 search engine. Five years ago people were crazy about MySpace where it started with the so called "friends". In five years Facebook is the MySpace of today.

MatrixWorkz: If you want to ignore things at Renderosity just click it away. You don't HAVE to see it.

Quote - But sadly even though I'm not with Facebook or that Twitter nonsense, it's not possible to ignore Facebook or Twitter. People talk about it, you can read about it and soon there is even a film by David Fincher about that Facebook crap creator or whatever.

A couple of years ago it was MySpace-it's still there, but no one talks about it anymore...

Quote - I'm looking at the process of setting up my own digital content storefront on Facebook. With Millions of Users, I think they might just be the new storefront of choice for merchants. What do you guys think?

Expanding one's business on the net is always good to do.   Facebook has succeeded where others (like MySpce) have failed and shows signs of growing ever still.  I use Facebook because I can combine everything onto a single site and quickly browse the latest news/events from 3D sites.

I like how people say they won't use Facebook because in five years it will be replaced by something else. 

Quote - I'm looking at the process of setting up my own digital content storefront on Facebook. With Millions of Users, I think they might just be the new storefront of choice for merchants. What do you guys think?

This smacks of storefront advertising spam!
I don't come and visit this site to be smashed with crap like this.
Notifing admins.

Renderosity uses Facebook, too.

I am on Facebook, when I release a new product I post the main promo in my FB account with a short description and a link to my store (not hosted on Facebook), it has brought me some new costumers and I'm not even trying very hard ( I don't have a group where people can become "fans" of it, I don't have very many contacts and I don't post on FB all that often...)  Because of this, I'm thinking that if someone tried a little harder then I do myself, FB could definitely be a good marketing tool. 

 As far as I'm concerned the mod's can go ahead and lock this thread. I wanted discussion on the article I linked to and instead it has already sunken to the level of attacks and people telling me to leave Renderosity.

Really?  I thought it was a good topic... :unsure:

I think it's an interesing concept - especially the ideas and issues surrounding the convergence of social meda and something like ejunkie. Theres loads to consider like security, artists exposure, the effects of "bemouths" on other stores (including rendo) if facebook ever gets into own selling business. 

Quote - I'm not a Facebook member, and don't plan to be. I find all the social networks to be irritating time wasters. So, no... you won't get my business.  

You can add me to that list as well.

here's the deal...if you think its a good idea, do it. You may be on the forefront of a huge new marketing masterpiece. Screw all the naysayers and stuff. Idea people have been held back since the snake oil days and before by doubting thomases.

Work it, make it work for you. GO FOR IT !!!!

If you don't try, you will never know yourself, and in the meantime, someone else will grab it and make millions while you ponder and wait for someone here to affirm your thoughts.

Maybe I'm missing something.  I haven't seen any attacks on the OP, or anyone telling him to leave this site.

FWIW, I'm a Basefook member but I doubt I'd ever buy anything on there.  I don't trust their security, nor their attitude towards privacy.  There's nothing about me on there which could come back to bite my ass and I intend to keep it that way. 

 I won't look at products on a Facebook post.  

Notifications of sales, new items, etc, I can get plenty from the RSS feeds, like the ones offered at Renderosity, which I see in Google Reader.

Likewise from Twitter feeds.

Nah.  Facebook won't sell it to me, unless it's the only place to get that one item from, and I want to buy it.

Quote - > Quote - I'm not a Facebook member, and don't plan to be. I find all the social networks to be irritating time wasters. So, no... you won't get my business.  

 

You can add me to that list as well.

What do you think Renderosity and DAZ are if they're not a form of Social Network for Artists?
 

Quote - Maybe I'm missing something.  I haven't seen any attacks on the OP, or anyone telling him to leave this site.
 

Then you skipped over HeyDork accusing me of Advertising Spam when I had no links to my Facebook presence whatsoever and Mackis3D basically telling me to Ignore Renderosity if I didn't like it so much. That to me was an invitation to leave. Almost everyone has zeroed in on the remarks I made about opening a store there but have completely ignored the actual topic that the article I linked to generated. What's the topic again? Anyone? It's not my store, really. I could care less if you don't want to buy from me personally.

What I'm asking you is, with a social network as HUGE as Facebook, how long do you think Rosity and DAZ can compete if merchants start moving en mass to places that actually give you decent privacy settings and Ignore User features and all the other things we've been asking for around here for years now?

Right now I hear a lot of "I won't give FB my credit information", but Who's saying you had to? Certainly not me! The store setup I'm looking at isn't handled by Facebook at all other than as a front door to an outside selling site which is using even further outside credit and payment sites to access payments. Right now, I'm only setup to accept PayPal payments through E-Junkie. Facebook will never see a thing from your credit cards.

Right now, all I'm hearing is a lot of uninformed or under informed prejudices against a site because of underused privacy settings and overused gaming spam and TMI from people you are calling your friends. Imagine a site where you don't have to see MatrixWorkz spam at all if you don't want to. Just Block it. Don't like Ron Knights? Block him. Poof! Gone.

Imagine that you can sell using whatever offsite merchandising site you want to use because you can past HTML code to your pages that allow you to sell without giving the host 50% or more of the take. Oh wait, you don't have to imagine it. Just look into the options.

So please, if you have something to add to the discussion about whether or not big social media can overrun sites like this one that have nothing to do with your fear of facebook, please, jump in here. For Pete's sake don't just assume I'm bashing on Renderosity here either. I've been here just as long as most of the rest of you under one screen name or another. Who knows? Maybe this topic could open the eyes of the programmers around here enough that they'll finally implement that ignore user feature we've been pleading for for well over 10 years now!

Yes, I must have missed that one.  

You're not hearing uninformed or under informed prejudices from me.  You're hearing extremely well informed opinions based on valid criticisms levelled at Facebook by a number of security consultants and - in several European countries, at least - government agencies regarding their cavalier attitude towards privacy.

In any event, I don't see places like Facebook replacing Rosity.  Yet.  There may come a time when they do but I strongly suspect the net - and the way we use it - will have changed beyond recognition by then.  In all probability, Facebook will go the way of all flesh and something else will be flavour of the month.

Well just like Microsoft Windows is the most Virus affected OS because of it's size, Facebook too is the victim of it's own size when it comes to security issues. I don't see this sort of thing EVER changing until someone develops virus proof and hack proof code for all of these large systems. Renderosity hasn't been immune to hacking and Malware, or need I remind people of the attack not so long ago?

Will FB be the final answer? I hope to God not! But does it offer more options for less than Renderosity and DAZ? At the moment, I think it does. And you yourself said you don't put anything on FB that you don't want others to have access to. That, quite frankly, is how it should be on ANY online site that we use these days. You can't blame the online social media sites for lack of security or breach of privacy if you're on the site going streaking in the buff now can you?

Haha.  If I was going streaking, I'd want the world to know.  :)

But I get your point there.

The net is still in its infancy.  I have a very strong feeling the social and political changes it brings will be immense, beyond what we can imagine at present.  Facebook is, IMO, a tiny step on the road.  

hey !!! didn't you just get married ?
you should be with your woman, preferrably in a reclining position.

Quote - What do you think Renderosity and DAZ are if they're not a form of Social Network for Artists?

Some people here feel more superior or elitist, believing they are a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

Quote - The net is still in its infancy.  I have a very strong feeling the social and political changes it brings will be immense, beyond what we can imagine at present.  Facebook is, IMO, a tiny step on the road.  

Who know's what we'll end up with if we loose Net Neutrality to the big corporations because of Google and Verizon?

Hmmm, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

Opening Poster should not be discouraged from trying the FaceBook avenue for merchandising.  Can't see any harm in that, my earlier remarks aside.

Quote - Who know's what we'll end up with if we loose Net Neutrality to the big corporations because of Google and Verizon?

Do it now before you-know-who starts taxing everyone for using the Internet.