I had a FB setup very briefly, during 2010 or so I think. The first time an update to privacy terms was issued (inside of a few weeks), I actually read through the thing, was appalled and promptly closed the account.
Per Bloomberg sometime last year, it's been slow to take off in the USA but is huge globally ($1 billion in ithe USA vs $60 billion total in 2019) but that here the covid-19 pandemic had raised interest.
The U.S. has been slow to shop via live online video, but the coronavirus sparked interest: “It’s basically digitizing QVC and HSN.”
www.bloomberg.com
Seems to me after an extended clampdown on ability to go out and shop, people would rather go for the real experience. Still, we're used to the conveniences of online shopping (vast choice, delivery etc, and for some also perhaps the convenience of asking questions remotely rather than risk seeming stupid in person?) so I guess it could be a coming thing. Bloomberg says so with more confidence than I can muster up.
It does sound pretty much like a spinoff of TV ventures like QVC, only made digiitally interactive and of course because of the internet, "anyone" can create a virtual shopping channel and try to get influencers to pick up on it and spread its appeal.
To me the "livestream shopping" phenomenon holds the potential for millions of cheap knockoffs of whichever outlets become successful, and so the net will become cluttered with what will seem far more like a revival of those "shopping haul" videos that were all the rage five and ten years ago, rather than well presented actual shopping experiences.
WTF. I feel old, but I can't fucking stand Twitter. I colleague/friend recommended it for staying on top of cutting edge stuff in our field. That just really stresses me out. Politics on Twitter is like cancer. The only thing I'd enjoy is new synth/audio tech stuff, but I don't have the funds and time to really delve into it. Maybe the issue is with me.
