Website Spotlight: myList (Facebook app)

myList is a new Facebook app designed to make eCommerce social. I had the opportunity to interview Rob Wight, CEO of myList, to find out more.

 

What prompted the development of myList?

myList was formed from one of the largest eCommerce companies in the world - Channel Intelligence (CI).  The founder and CEO of CI, Rob Wight, has long recognized that the primary way that consumers want to learn about new products, services, and other content is through their trusted friends and close-in community.  He recognized that Facebook's wildly successful social graph – which already includes Users and Pages (FB Pages are everything from brands to retailers to schools, churches, and more) provided the perfect platform for adding Things.  These "Things" can be products, places, articles, or any other physical or virtual "thing," including the over 16.9 million offers (already in myList) from top manufacturers and retailers.

Why should consumers use the app? How does it benefit them?  

Facebook users use myList to discover, save and share the things that matter to them.

Discovery: The things in myList are presented to you through the collective lens of your friends, friends-of-friends, the Facebook Pages you have liked, and through others that the system recognizes are similar to you (people who save and share the same kinds of things you do).   Going into myList is like going into a information wonderland that was built just for you by the people who know you best, and the brands/retailers that you love ... where you're constantly finding new, cool things, ideas, and more ... things that are meaningful to you because they're personally relevant.  Also, as a user you can "follow" lists that are particular interest to you, and you will always be altered to additions to these lists!

Saving:  Even in Facebook, things are mostly transient – the restaurant a friend recommends, the CD that you read about on your favorite artist's page, or the decorating idea your mom posted.  With myList, you can save things in Facebook, or from anywhere on the web, to lists to remember for later, creating a sort of long-term visual memory of the things that matter to you.   And the things you save in turn become the things your friends see in myList (unless you save them to a private list) ... helping shape their experience from your discovery!

Sharing:   Facebook has created a fantastic platform for sharing to occur naturally, as it shares your actions within myList with those people who are most likely to find them of interest.  Also, you can share your things and lists to your Facebook Timeline to ask your friends for their reviews or opinions, or just to show them something interesting.  

How does myList blend eCommerce into the social realm?

Some of the cool things that you discover in myList turn out to be things you want to buy.  The things in myList are linked to their source page on the web, and in many cases, myList also provides "Choices" (look for the Choices banner) of retailers who offer that product.

How could a small business, such as an independent baby/child products retailer get on board?  

It's really simple, and completely free if you install and manage it by yourself.  The best way is to first install myList as a Facebook user (search for myList inside of Facebook, or go to www.mylist.com and click "start now" - there's also a quick video there that you may want to watch). Play around with myList and get a sense of how it works – and pay particular attention to the "Follow" function.  If you don't already have friends in the app, invite some so that you see how their faces begin appearing on the things in your Explore view.  Then go to any Page that already has myList installed (you can go to the myList app page in Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SeeMyList), click on the myList tab and and click the "get myList for my Page" link.  Then start making lists by adding your products.  Try to make lists that people want to "Follow," because once they do, they'll receive updates any time you add to that list (all of the time, not just the 5% - 17% that normally see a post). With a minimum of effort, you'll start seeing a significant increase in viral sharing of your products among Facebook users!