We spend a lot of time within the walls of social media companies. So much, in fact, that some are now ingesting other parts of the internet to spare you the inconvenience of going outside. Some want to bring you the daily news (see: Facebook's Instant Articles). Others want to take you shopping (see: Pinterest "buy" button). Today, Twitter introduced new product pages that lay groundwork for a full shopping experience to exist within its walls.
In a blog post describing the effort, Twitter said it was "beginning to test new ways for people and brands to create and share Twitter collections of products and places." Target, Nike, Disney, and a handful of other brands released product pages on Twitter today. The pages look and feel like normal online shops. There's a hitch with these, however. In nearly every case, Twitter's product pages send you outside of Twitter to complete the purchase.
Interestingly, the pages aren't limited to brand name retailers. Stars like Reese Witherspoon, William Shatner, and Michelle Phan built product pages as well, looking to turn their outsize followings into retail dollars. Social gives these stars a new, direct route to access their fans, and they are now competing with retailers in a way that would be unimaginable just a few years ago.
This isn't Twitter's first foray into retail. The company has been piloting a "buy" button that allows you to purchase items without leaving the platform. The button's performance isn't booming yet, but it's still early. The natural next step for Twitter would be integrate that button into all of these pages. (Threadless, one participating retailer, already has it.)
Twitter declined our request for an interview. But its blog post promised that "this is just the beginning."