"Buy" Button Brings Commerce to Twitter

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Some people are so bad at Twitter that they couldn’t even buy a retweet. While that’s not necessarily going to change any time soon, a new feature being tested by the social media giant will soon allow users to buy the stuff being retweeted.

Matthew Sparkes of The Telegraph explains:

“Twitter is venturing into online shopping by adding a new ‘buy now’ button that retailers can embed into tweets.

Once you click on the button you are taken to another screen where you are shown further details of the item on offer, and given the chance to choose options – such as size for clothing.”

Here’s a visualization of Sparkes’ report, per Twitter’s own announcement video:

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A couple observations:

First, this change could be huge for charities and other giving organizations. Just imagine how much more money the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge could have made if donating through Twitter were as easy as a finger tap.

Second, while Twitter has announced that it’ll roll out this feature slowly, one can expect that it’ll eventually become as prevalent as the favorite or re-tweet. With all the recent grumbling about Twitter’s proposed adoption of a Facebook-like news feed, is it only a matter of time until you’re forced to sift through tweets your friends had purchased from? Will signing up for a “Buy” button come with the expectation that your tweets will receive preferential treatment throughout promotion?

We’ll just have to wait and see.