Twitter to Beta Test Social Commerce Features

Twitter plans to try letting companies showcase products for sale on their profiles — up to 50 at a time, according to a Reuters report.

The company announced this on Wednesday (March 9) to try to get in on “social commerce” in the U.S., referring to retail services operating directly on social media platforms.

The feature will be called Twitter Shops, and will have a beta test available for select U.S. businesses, along with being visible to those using the Twitter iPhone app.

Interested shoppers who view the product on Twitter will be redirected to the merchant’s website to check out.

U.S. wireless carrier Verizon, according to the report, will be one of the test partners and will be selling featured iPhone cases and wireless chargers in its Twitter shop.

Facebook and Instagram have been leaders in the field prior to this, allowing merchants to set up virtual shops and sell things.

Twitter had a feature last year that let brands showcase up to five products at the top of their profiles; this new offering is an expanded version of that feature.

The company will also be looking into livestreamed shopping, allowing people to buy clothing and other things while watching videos from the brands.

Social media platforms have had to deal with misinformation for years, even more so lately due to the military conflict going on as Russia continues attacking Ukraine.

See also: Social Media Platforms Face a Difficult Situation to Deal with Misinformation 

Companies have become better at dealing with disinformation now, as opposed to a few years ago during the 2016 U.S. elections or Brexit.

Still up for debate is whether or not companies should delete misleading content about current affairs.

While there’s an argument to support doing so, people also need to have unimpeded access to the channels to be able to document and report things that are happening and communicate with loved ones.