????Facebook公開上市之后，對于這家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)巨頭收入問題的關(guān)注抵達臨界值。那次不幸的IPO之后，人們開始鄭重其事地大聲發(fā)問：移動平臺幾乎沒辦法提供廣告服務(wù)，這家公司到底怎樣賺錢？

????近日，F(xiàn)acebook開始試驗類似于Pinterest的“想要（want）”按鍵，此舉或?qū)椭摴咀叱鍪杖肜Ь场acebook聯(lián)手包括陶瓷谷倉（Pottery Barn）、維多利亞的秘密（Victoria's Secret）、內(nèi)曼?馬庫斯（Neiman Marcus）和 Fab.com在內(nèi)的7大零售商，合作推出全新的“收藏（Collections）”功能。這“顯然是一項抵御Pinterest的措施，”互聯(lián)網(wǎng)新聞博客Mashale撰稿人托德?瑟曼說。

????但這項措施的終極意義或許遠不止于此。擁有10億用戶的Facebook將數(shù)量驚人的消費者聚集在一個地方。但到目前為止，F(xiàn)acebook主要的收入來源依然是廣告服務(wù)。在線廣告價格正在下降，這意味著每用戶平均收入也在下降。“收藏”功能讓用戶彼此之間分享他們喜歡的物品——點擊“想要”按鈕可以把想要產(chǎn)品的照片放在朋友的動態(tài)消息上，這些朋友隨后可點擊他們自己的“想要”按鈕，甚至可以通過Facebook購買想要的產(chǎn)品。

????現(xiàn)在，F(xiàn)acebook還沒有從這些購買行動中分成，但幾乎可以肯定的是，如果實驗獲得成功，它肯定會這樣做。它很可能將成為一個巨大的收入來源。

????此舉也可以讓Facebook減少對廣告的依賴——許多廣告看起來非常俗氣，還有些純粹是垃圾信息。它可以充分利用Facebook的分享功能，分享畢竟是社交媒體的真諦所在。如果你的朋友喜歡某件東西，你很可能也會非常喜歡。今后不再是某位廣告商出面直接推銷產(chǎn)品，而是你的某位朋友說，自己喜歡這件產(chǎn)品。

????照片分享網(wǎng)站Pinterest對沒用過的人來說顯得有些神秘。它可以讓人們把自己喜歡的事物（時裝、家庭裝飾創(chuàng)意和烹飪技巧等）的圖像聚集在一起。但只有成為Pinterest 用戶，才能使用其功能。大多數(shù)可能這樣做的人已經(jīng)是Facebook用戶，已經(jīng)在與其大多數(shù)親朋好友在那里交流溝通。

????與此同時，eBay也開始進入這一領(lǐng)域。這家購物網(wǎng)站已經(jīng)推出“訂閱（Feeds）”功能，其運行方式類似于Pinterest 和Facebook的“收藏”功能，但所涉及的是該網(wǎng)站可供出售的產(chǎn)品。eBay稱，這項功能“將你想要的產(chǎn)品直接推送給你，而不是相反?！?/p>

????現(xiàn)在回想起來，這種想法經(jīng)歷了這么長的時間才流行開來，的確是一件令人驚訝的事情。但社交媒體工具終于讓分享變得如此簡單，企業(yè)必須完全適應(yīng)這樣一種理念：最好的推銷員往往是它們自己的客戶。

????譯者：任文科

????It was only after Facebook went public that attention to its revenue troubles reached critical mass. And it was only after that ill-starred IPO that people began asking -- in earnest and at full volume -- how the company could possibly make money on mobile platforms, where it is nearly impossible to serve ads.

????Facebook (FB) might be onto the beginnings of a solution with its new, Pinterest-like "want" button, which it has rolled out as a test. Facebook has teamed up with seven retailers including Pottery Barn, Victoria's Secret, Neiman Marcus and Fab.com for its new "Collections" feature. It's "a fairly transparent hedge against Pinterest," says Todd Wasserman of blog Mashable.

????But it could wind up being much more than that. With a billion users, Facebook has amassed a gigantic number of consumers in one place. But so far, the main way it has made any money is by serving up ads. And online ad rates are falling, which means that revenue-per-user is falling, too. The Collections feature has users themselves sharing the stuff they like with each other -- hitting the "want" button puts pictures of desired products on the news feeds of friends, who can then hit their own "want" button, or even make a purchase via Facebook.

????For now, Facebook will not be taking a cut from those purchases, but rest assured that if the tests prove successful, it will. And that could prove to be a big generator of revenue.

????It also will allow Facebook to rely less on the often-cheesy, sometimes spammy ads that it runs. And it makes the best use of Facebook's sharing capabilities, which is after all, is what social media is all about. If your friends like something, there's a decent chance that you'll like it, too. And it won't be an advertiser directly pitching a product, but just a friend saying that he or she likes that product.

????The appeal of Pinterest is somewhat mysterious to those who don't use it. But it allows people to gather together in one spot images of all the things they like -- fashions, home-decorating ideas, cooking tips, etc. But you have to become a Pinterest member to use it. Most people who are likely to do so are already on Facebook, and are already hooked up with most of their friends and relatives there.

????Meanwhile, eBay is getting into the game as well. It has launched "Feeds," which works similarly to Pinterest and Facebook's Collections, but with products that are on the site and available for sale. It "brings the products you want right to you, as opposed to the other way around," eBay says.

????In retrospect, it's surprising that this idea took so long to catch on. But social media tools had to advance to the point where such sharing was made simple, and businesses had to get fully used to the idea that their best salespeople were often their own customers.