So, the conversation went a little like this:

[Foe]: “I think Amazon would come up with a better social network service than Google would”

[Me]: “Haven’t they done that already?”

[Foe]: “What do you mean?”

[Me]: “Well, they’ve got straight to the part where the social interactions of thousands of people get them more cash, without having to deal with all that troublesome dating business”

[Foe]: “Heh… Yeah, I suppose… but what I mean is something where you see what your friends are buying and reading and wishing for, and that activity is what prompts connections and conversations”

Which got me thinking. Amazon already have incredible features for harnesses our connections and social behaviours, but they are all fairly anonmous, unlike the wave of social network services. Could Amazon benefit from some of the UI features of those sites?

I’ve mocked up a quick version of what I mean. I think that surfacing your wishlist networks and buddy reviews / recommendations would be great.