Is social “click to pay” on the way?

Posted 4:30 am, July 21, 2014, by
This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Click.

Then buy.

Shopping on social media could soon get a lot easier.

Twitter and Facebook, two giants of the social meida world, both took steps recently that indicate they may be eager to streamline the social shopping experience. That, in turn, would make it easier for us to spend, spend, spend.

In a blog post last Thursday, Twitter said it had agreed to acquire CardSpring. The mobile payments company hooks up merchants and consumers. The merchants’ deals are loaded directly onto credit cards. Then, when the card is used, the deal is automatically applied.

Facebook too, appears poised to embrace a new push for social shopping. The company announced on the same Thursday that it was testing a “buy button” on desktop and mobile.

In an update called “Testing a New Way for People to Discover and Buy Products on Facebook” the company called the “buy button” a new feature that could  “help businesses drive sales through Facebook in News Feed and on Pages.”

Users will see the “buy button” near ads and on page posts and will be able to purchase a product directly from a business without leaving Facebook.
Facebook said it’s built the feature with “privacy in mind” and that none of the credit or debit card information people share with Facebook when completing a transaction will be shared with other advertisers.

Notice: you are using an outdated browser. Microsoft does not recommend using IE as your default browser. Some features on this website, like video and images, might not work properly. For the best experience, please upgrade your browser.