March 9th, 2007

How Social is Amazon?

Pretty social, it seems. Here is a slide from the social design talk I’ve been giving lately:

(btw: this full-page screenshot taken with Paparazzi! on the Mac)

With lots of sites “going social” nowadays, Amazon and their amazing array of social features is often overlooked. But the amount of social content on Amazon that is provided and leveraged is astounding…especially for an e-commerce company. If Amazon didn’t have this incredible amount of social commentary, their site would only be a shell of what it is today.

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Comments ( 46 Responses so far )

1. Henrik Lied on March 9th, 2007 (Comment) #

Not bad. The only thing their missing is a messaging feature.

2. pauric on March 9th, 2007 (Comment) #

the beauty of your insight is it demonstrates activity first features second.

People shop and discuss purchasing decisions in the real world. Amazon is enabling that and enhancing the discussion with the wide-band of the internet.

Maybe this could be labeled as a socially supported design. Where ’social’ is a supporting feature of the primary activity.

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3. huphtur on March 9th, 2007 (Comment) #

(Screengrab! is a sweet FF Add-on that can do the same kind of screenshot)

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4. Josh on March 9th, 2007 (Comment) #

Amazon has definitely always led the way when it comes to pushing new ground for an ecommerce company.

One caveat: I would actually classify “Product ratings” and “Rate this item” as the same feature… so you’ve listed it twice.

5. Josh on March 9th, 2007 (Comment) #

Yes, Josh…they are the same. I hesitated about that…but ended up listing it twice because they show up in separate parts of the page…

6. Boris on March 11th, 2007 (Comment) #

Good lord… I started writing the same blog post 6 months ago! funny.

You know why everyone overlook Amazon’s “social” tools? They are very poorly presented/integrated/designed. I took people through an Amazon page like this several times and each time I got “gee, I never noticed that…”

Also questionable is how useful most of these featrue are.

7. Chosson on March 12th, 2007 (Comment) #

They are social, but still not all features are usable: “people, who viewed this … end up buying this”, “but with 1 click” are still confusing…

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8. Nadav on March 16th, 2007 (Comment) #

The real story here is how long that page is!

9. Web Design Wales on March 19th, 2007 (Comment) #

The only one I use regularly is the ‘customer reviews’ one.

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10. wenjun on March 25th, 2007 (Comment) #

amazon does its job very well. that’s not just because it offers so many social features, but the way amazon display and arrange those features.
my point is, adding more fetures to your product is very easily, making your visitors feel easy to face so many features that’s a tough job.

11. Pozycjonowanie on April 6th, 2007 (Comment) #

Amazon has definitely always led the way when it comes to pushing new ground for an ecommerce company.

12. Dan on April 7th, 2007 (Comment) #

my point is, adding more fetures to your product is very easily, making your visitors feel easy to face so many features that’s a tough job.

you’re right, thats the point! they are all easy to understand and use. some are more, some are less helpful, but I think there is no useless web 2.0 thing on the site…

13. Mary on April 14th, 2007 (Comment) #

Amazon is closer to society that many other e-commerce companies.

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14. Mark E on May 2nd, 2007 (Comment) #

Another top post, Josh.

Really enjoying what you do here.

Not a techie myself but am fascinated by your “social design” thing.

Keep up the good work.

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15. Jacek on June 8th, 2007 (Comment) #

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16. myspace proxy on June 26th, 2007 (Comment) #

Not bad. The only thing their missing is a messaging feature.

17. conto corrente on June 28th, 2007 (Comment) #

In many ways, Amazon is really a social network rather than an ecommerce store.

18. Księgowość on July 3rd, 2007 (Comment) #

Yeah, they’re really caring about their customers - that’s like most important in the retail business.

19. Księgowość on July 3rd, 2007 (Comment) #

Yeah, they’re really caring about their customers - that’s like the most important in the retail business.

20. Craig on July 6th, 2007 (Comment) #

Another nice post, Josh. Not a techie myself but am fascinated by your “social design” thing. Keep up the good work - waiting for more !

21. Pędzle on July 6th, 2007 (Comment) #

Amazon has definitely always led the way when it comes to pushing new ground for an ecommerce company.

22. depilacja laserowa on July 7th, 2007 (Comment) #

Amazon.com contributes to increase iPod popularity:) this is social:)

23. Vitaliy on July 7th, 2007 (Comment) #

Very nice post and very interesting questions:) I don’t think that Amazon is really a social network because they only want to make money. Make money is not really social, anyway.

24. sohbet on August 4th, 2007 (Comment) #

Not bad. The only thing their missing is a messaging feature.

25. João Pereira on August 11th, 2007 (Comment) #

Amazon has great social features but the “Amazon price” is probably the best social feature. I guess everybody search a product on diferent websites but we by it in the place that is more favorable for us at the moment, whish means mostly, lesser price and delivering spead. Shure I do use some of the social features even when i by the product elsewhere.

26. TIMBaER on August 17th, 2007 (Comment) #

The real good story here is how long that page is!

Thanks

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27. Dominik on October 16th, 2007 (Comment) #

great site…but some mistakes! Sunny regards

28. sohbet odalari on October 16th, 2007 (Comment) #

hımmmm very good sites

29. Hörmann on December 4th, 2007 (Comment) #

Another nice post, Josh. Not a techie myself but am fascinated by your “social design” thing. Keep up the good work - waiting for more !

30. iyinet webmaster forumu 2008 seo yarışması on February 6th, 2008 (Comment) #