Actually, I think Beacon is what Beacon should have been. The problem with apps like iGot is that it takes effort and time on the part of the user. Beacon is effortless. Yes this can result in privacy issues, but if the user is worried about privacy s/he can easily change the settings.
Perhaps, but simply putting my face in a news feed next to a product doesn't mean I like it, it just means I bought it. If you really want to know what I think about something you need to hear what I have to say. iGot let's you tell your friends to stay away from a product just as easily as it lets you tell them how much you love something. I think that's an important distinction.
I've bought some product, mobile phone accessories for one example, that have worked okay for a while but after while have become completely useless. I wouldn't want Beacon to advertise them, especially not until I've used and tested them for quite a while, which is unfortunately exactly what Beacon would do.
I don't think Beacon's job is to suggest products to other people, just to notify them that you have made a purchase. I wouldn't consider someone buying something as an endorsement for the product, but I do think it's an interesting, though useless, thing to know.
It gives that manufacturer and product publicity though. And that publicity is linked to your interpersonal relationship with your friend. Although that isn't explicit endorsement, I would argue it's implicit endorsement, and nevertheless that affects your propensity to buy a product and your view of that manufacturer.
I have no problem with iGot's explicit endorsement, but Beacon's implicit endorsement appears to leverage your interpersonal relationships for marketing benefits, and I'm not keen on that idea.
That's the distinction I was going for, with iGot you have choice to endorse a product or not. Maybe it would be good to combine the two. If you allow Beacon to post your purchases you could then use iGot to tell your friends what you actually think about that product.
I don't think Facebook makes Beacon data available to App developers but it would be interesting to play with.
