Top3Clicks or Why Dive Into Social Commerce?

After talking for months, Mike and I finally took a leap and built out the initial version of Top3Clicks. We’ve spent a number of months refining the app and still have a ton of features to add.

One question we both get is “why social commerce”?

Mike and I are interested (as are others) in trying to marry e-commerce with the social graph. We went deep into e-commerce with iPrint and messaging (SMS/IM/SMTP) with MessageCast. We made several attempts at wiring e-commerce into messaging, but never felt like we hit more than a single.

With F8, Facebook enabled this scenario for, perhaps arguably, the first time. The key piece of what had been missing previously, the user profile, is available via the Facebook APIs. In many cases, the user profile is a rich data store of information that allows us to provide the user with an “easy on-ramp” to add Top3Clicks and begin using it immediately.

Messaging with the Facebook APIs is available in a number of areas. We are concentrating on application updates to the Profile page and using Notification and email to let the user know when a new item is available from their favorite author or snowboard company.

My personal experience has been great – I’m always on the lookout for new music from the likes of My Morning Jacket, Ryan Adams, The Clash, etc. After adding Top3Clicks, my profile information was imported and with no effort was immediately able to discover new offerings from favorite bands of mine.

Try out the app if you have a moment; gratuitous feedback is encouraged.