Facebook announced a new test-feature for browsers and mobile devices that will make online shopping simple with an integrated buy button.
Facebook, the world's largest social network with more than 1.2 billion users, announced Thursday that it is testing a new feature for small and medium businesses. The social network is adding a new "buy" button into advertisements and other posts to make online purchases simple as ever. The change will be seen on both browsers and on mobile devices, allowing SMB businesses to better connect with its online customers on the world's largest social networking site.
Facebook's move follows a similar integration by Twitter, which was found to be testing a new "buy now" button to allow users to purchase products directly within the tweets, Re/Code reported last month. Such integration will help businesses promote products to online consumers and improve sales subsequently.
"With this feature, people on desktop or mobile can click the "Buy" call-to-action button on ads and Page posts to purchase a product directly from a business, without leaving Facebook," the company's official blog post reads.
Facebook also made a point to note that the new feature under testing is built with privacy in mind. The pro-active confession by the social network comes weeks after it was found conducting a secret psychology experiment on over 600,000 users. Facebook noted that the credit or debit card information used on the site to complete a purchase will not be shared with other advertisers. Additionally, users will be in control of choosing whether or not to save payment information for future transactions.
Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg revealed in January during a conference call that the company will not promote direct purchases. "We don't have any plans to go into the direct e-commerce market because the advertising products we provide, I think, are the best thing we can provide to help grow this market," she said. But the social network is moving ahead regardless of its denial, Bloomberg reports.
The testing of the new feature on Facebook is limited to a small number of small and medium businesses in the US. Facebook did not reveal how long the test will continue but promised to share more information soon.
