It's no secret that Twitter has begun testing out a new feature that will create pages that cater to products and places.
Why is Twitter, however, suddenly foraying into this new terrain and testing product and place pages? To promote e-commerce via the microblogging site and revive its depleting fortunes. Twitter wants you to go shopping on its site via the new dedicated pages dubbed "Collection" pages.
This page will show the product image or the place. The image will be accompanied by the product or place description and will have a link to the featured website. Moreover, there will be a "Buy Now" button for those interested in purchasing the product, as well as tweets pertaining to the product. It may sound familiar a la Facebook.
Since it's in the testing phase, this feature will only be available to a select few users. For example, Twitter users going to Nike's page can browse the product range. Clicking on the product picture will redirect the user to a Nike-curated shopping page that has information on its LeBron Elite Collection, pricing and instructions on how to buy the products.
"We're also beginning to test new ways for people and brands to create and share Twitter collections of products and places. You'll be able to browse rich collections from influencers you care about and get more information about the products or places you find interesting," said Twitter's Product Manager Amaryllis Fox.
Nike is not the only one to have teamed up with Twitter for its e-commerce venture as the new product and pages feature is also partnering with musicians such as Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, Amanda Palmer and Steve Aoki. Retailers such as Target, Nordstrom and Disney Store are also on board along with brands such as Michelle Phan, Hallmark, and Warner Bros.
Some of the curators are as follows:
- Demi Lovato Demi's Picks
- HBO - Game of Thrones #GoT Fan Favorites
- Nike LeBron Elite collection
- PEOPLE & Joyus Summer Beauty Finds
- Reese Witherspoon Draper James Summer Picks
- Target Swim & Sun Ready
- The Ellen Show Best of The Ellen Shop
- The Infatuation NYC #InfatuationSummer
The new feature can be seen as an extension of Twitter's buy button, which is available on promoted tweets. Twitter may be hoping to give a fillip to its equation with advertisers who are displeased with its user engagement methods.
A strong possibility exists that Twitter will get a cut from the brands for the purchases made via the social networking site. The move seems to be a conscious effort to monetize the microblogging site's extensive user data.
With rivals Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest also adding "Buy" buttons to leverage the user data for revenue generation, it seems Twitter has finally taken the bait and jumped onto the bandwagon.
Twitter can tap its massive popularity, especially with celebrities and public figures, to fuel its e-commerce growth. With celebrities launching their own brands, the product and pages feature is likely to go down well. No wonder Hollywood A-listers such as Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop have partnered with Twitter for the launch.
The testing feature is now viewable on both Twitter and its mobile app.
