Two of the biggest names on the Internet, Amazon and Twitter, are banking that those who love to shop and those who love to tweet will love the opportunity to do both simultaneously.
Amazon and Twitter are now intertwined via social networking. Users who follow both on Twitter can satisfy their shopping crave and thirst for 'daily' specials via a new shopping cart capability hooked to Twitter from Amazon.
The first day revealed a steady stream of Twitter users clicking on the Amazon daily special tweet and popping the item into their Amazon cart. Users still have to jump to Amazon to finalize the purchase. One of the first daily specials was a quirky avocado refrigerator container, which seemed to resonate with young Twitter users.
The news comes as Internet companies are striving to use social media as part of retail strategies and for Amazon it's a no-brainer and clearly a win. For Twitter, it could help keep Twitter users engaged which could be a huge boost given Twitter is dealing with hefty apathy issues as reports indicate more people create accounts and walk away than those who create and end up tweeting.
The Amazon cart experience couldn't be much simpler. Users just need to connect their Twitter accounts to Amazon, and then when seeing a product they want they just need to tweet "#AmazonCart" to make the shopping link.
"By connecting your Twitter and Amazon accounts, you are telling Amazon that #AmazonCart requests coming from your Twitter account should be added to your Amazon.com Shopping Cart. Without that link, Amazon would not know to which customer's Cart to add the item," states instructions at Amazon's site. Users can edit connection preferences by visiting their social settings.
The one issue new users pointed out was that shopping is not anonymous and pretty much out there for anyone perusing the tweets on #AmazonCart. That could pose an issue given users are much more concerned these days about privacy online and having others see their purchases. But then again it's doubtful Amazon will be promoting anything racy or slightly provocative as part of the shopping connection.
