Twitter may have been criticized for not being able to monetize its service as well as Facebook or Google, but that may have changed with the social network's "Buy Now" button.
Products being shared in tweets have a "Buy Now" button, but may have been a "mock-up" from a shopping app named Fancy, according to the Re/Code. The buying ability was reported to be working although it couldn't be repeated.
OK, this may just be an experiment, right? But when asked about the tweets, Twitter and Fancy declined to speak to reporters.
As the Re/Code reported, previous stories about Twitter said that the San Francisco-based company was working on an e-commerce model including hiring ex-Ticketmaster chief executive Nathan Hubbard to head the effort.
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Previously Twitter was also experimenting with #AmazonCart where users could reply #AmazonCart to any product tweet with a direct link to Amazon. Users would still have to buy on the Amazon site, but at least it will keep your Amazon cart full. The feature also wasn't exclusive to Twitter, but hasn't really shown up on other sites such as Pinterest.
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Either way, Twitter is definitely looking at ways to add commerce to the site, and let's hope it stays subtle.
