I Link You

one feature that is lacking in many social networking sites

I won't be surprised if Facebook or any other social networking site puts up this feature on Black Friday, but I realized (as I was talking to some of my friends on campus) that there is no way to put up your wishlist for the coming holidays and birthdays. I definitely recall way too many times when I was absolutely clueless on what kind of gift that I should get for my parents, siblings, boyfriends, BFFs, old friends, grandma, colleagues, and/or many other people. Although I still do most of my holiday shopping in real life on the shops of Michigan Avenue and Lincoln Park, there are some gifts (mostly movies, video games, books, and consumer electronics) that I buy online.

Now wouldn't this be a great scheme. If every profile has a seasonal feature that allows one to list their top 10 (or more if you are connected to lots of people) most-wanted items for the upcoming holidays and/or their birthdays, then anyone with access to this user's profile can browse through the list and get some ideas for gifts. Another great marketing tool would be to link all of the most-wanted items to third-party retail sites such as Amazon.com, and allow users (or the social networking site) to make commission.

I know many of my friends already put up their wishlists in their "about me" sections anyway. However, as much as I'm not afraid of asking my family and friends bluntly on "What do they want for the holidays?", I always get the most vague answers or I have no idea what to get them after I ask them.

posted by Koh @ 3:42 PM