Some weeks ago Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder revealed in his presentation at F8 Conference that Facebook is set to move into web shops where customers can browse a store’s product and make purchases. With this, they are moving beyond the idea of Facebook being an advertising model to an eCommerce platform. This development would enable the brand to rival with big brands such as Amazon, Alibaba, Wechat, Aliexpress, etc. As for me, eCommerce is not the next big thing for Facebook now, the competition is tight. It could be a great idea but implemented at the wrong time. This piece is my way of showing Zuckerberg and his team a better way to go. Who knows, if this idea is fully implemented, I may be selected by Zuckerberg’s team to help lead a strategic and business development team in Africa. Kindly help share this till it gets to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheyl Sanberg, Mac Andreessen, Erskine Bowles, Susan Desmond-Hellman, Donald Graham, Reed Hastings or Peter Thiel at 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

1. It would be a great opportunity to help curb the problem of piracy affecting movie/music distribution in Africa.

The problem of piracy in Africa keeps getting worse. There had been several attempts to help solve this problem but none has proven viable enough. There is a need for a controlled distribution channel that will enable music/movie production companies to upload their contents on the platform (Facebook/Instagram) and start promoting and selling the contents. With this, songs and movies can be bought; streamed online or downloaded on Facebook/Instagram player to be assessed offline.

2. Currently, music/movie production companies sell their contents on other platforms but promote the contents on Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp. Why can’t they just sell it directly?

Facebook/Instagram shouldn’t just be a platform where musical artistes, actors and actresses can just promote their songs to family, friends and fans, it could also be an avenue for contents to be distributed and sold. This goes a long way in helping the contents creator to sell their contents with just a click instead of having to link other platform.

3. Like Netflix, Facebook can start generating income by personally producing and selling movies to their 2.38 billion active monthly users all over the world.

This could be another big hit for Facebook/Instagram. Instead of just partnering with Netflix, Facebook can leverage on the strength of its user base and platform to divert into movie productions since the distribution of the contents would be smooth and easy. As big as Netflix is, the company still runs paid adverts on Facebook and Instagram. So, if Facebook decides to divert into movie production and distribution, it already has a platform to advertise its contents at no extra cost. With this Facebook can marginalize profit.

4. With the help of Instant Messaging, songs and movies promoted and sold on this platform can get instant reviews.

So contents creators can get instant feedback and those who are yet to listen to the song or watch the movie can easily be motivated to do so. In the case of movies with different episodes, producers can make the experience interactive by asking the viewers to predict what would happen in the next episode. Unlike the experience in the cinema, viewers can interact with one another while watching the movie and they can also send feedback directly to the producer.


5. With the help of Facebook/Instagram player, Facebook can control the distribution of music/movies then compete with brands such as itunes, Spotify, Youtube, etc.

This means that all the songs/movies bought and downloaded on Facebook/Instagram will be directly stored on the player and cannot be easily transferred to other users.

6. Entertainment sells faster and it is a great way of allowing users to spend more time on the network.

I think this needs no explanation. Just read the next point below.

7. Facebook is a monopoly, so why shouldn’t it just take charge?

With Facebook’s over 2.38 billion monthly active users, Instagram’s over 1 billion monthly active users and Netflix’ 139 million paying subscribers and Spotify’s 217 million monthly active users, there is no doubt that both Facebook and Instagram has all what it takes to dominate the global entertainment industry and help to put smile of the faces of many music/movie producers worldwide.



Kolade A. Akinyele is a writer, entrepreneur, consultant and brand inspector. He is part of the team that created Playmyjamz.com; an award winning music streaming web platform for underprivileged upcoming artistes who do not have enough financial resources to promote and share their songs online. Kolade is also one of the directors of a not for profit organization; AYITI (Access for Youth to Information Technology). He is also one of the directors of Think First Technologies Limited and the Proprietor of Think First Educational Consult. You can reach him via abelakinyele@gmail.com.


Source:
https://brandinspector..com/b/post-preview?token=APq4FmAXKM62woQbSfn4y9c-tGOVx1IP6y5FYNe6xx0gBV9gE6GnGNW_5eFsBtetH_x0yk2L6uZZXOW_YqA409EcX8Eom0tCT551w6y5hi9bSaSlO9TyjDV0o81Yl3a08waYs-g3wOaw&postId=245430375756258542&type=POST