Amazon's New Footer a Reminder of Amazon's Focus on Verticalization & Digital Avenues

Amazon has been rolling out a redesign over the last couple months. I have discussed the homepage's new navigation and promotional units. One small, interesting note is their new footer (shown below). Notice how many properties - and how diverse they are - are part of Amazon. If the header signifies a shift from product to digital (as discussed here), the footer signifies both that (Askville, Audible, CreateSpace, DPRreview, IMDB, etc) and a focus on verticalized experiences (ie Wag, Soap, Diapers, Woot, Yo-yo, Shopbop, Zappos, etc).

Levis + Facebook's Open Graph = Awesome Social Shopping

Facebook's F8 announcements featured prominent partner integrations with Pandora, IMDB, ESPN and Yelp... but Levi's quickly demonstrated that the Open Graph and web-wide Like functionality are highly applicable to e-commerce and social shopping. Just as Pandora uses Facebook to personalize music (artist & channel) through your social graph, Levis allows shoppers to like, view and filter products based on social input / preferences.

Shoppers can either view top products from "everyone" or specifically visit the "Friends Store": a storefront with content chosen by your Facebook friends. You can also invite friends directly to shop alongside you and provide their feedback.

Cleverly, Levis also features friends' upcoming birthdays, showcases their favorite Levis products and encourages gifting.