Hotter than Social Media itself is the discussion on how to monetise it and measure ROI. Part of me is sick of this, the whole reason for Social Media is to be social, interact, a chance for big Brands to speak to individual consumers. Then I realise that I live and work in the real world where the idealistic vision of eternal discussions between monolithic companies and Mrs Smith next door can only continue if the shareholders get their 10 cents.

Well we didn’t have to wait long for it to happen, just like the e-commerce gold rush of the nineties retail shops are now entering “Social Space”. The peaceful days of chatting on Facebook, playing pointless games and sending virtual cocktails without the pressure on your credit card are gone!

It was always going to happen, Facebook came of age in 2009 when it turned a profit and now has partnered with PayPal for advertiser payments. The next step from here is not a big one.

Alvenda provide an application that allows you to have a Flash based shop within Facebook. The downside for the consumer is multiple shops and you end up with something similar to what exists already outside of Facebook.

Solution?

The Facebook Shopping Mall from Payvment, shop at multiple retailers with one checkout across Facebook, it will even handle multiple currencies. It uses PayPal as the payment provider and another minor detail, it’s free!

So now you have another, more direct way, to get your ROI from Social Media.