Social Media Today: Facebook Tests, Twitter Acquires, New Pinterest Tool
By Melony Roy
Follow KYW social media editor @MelonyRoy.
Facebook tests "Buy" button
The social network is testing a new way for its users to discover and buy products on Facebook.
With the "buy" button, users can shop directly from their News Feeds without ever leaving the site.
"We've built this feature with privacy in mind, and have taken steps to help make the payment experience safe and secure. None of the credit or debit card information people share with Facebook when completing a transaction will be shared with other advertisers, and people can select whether or not they'd like to save payment information for future purchases," the company announced in a statement.
For now, only a handful of small and medium-sized advertisers will be testing the new feature.
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Twitter buys CardSpring
Twitter has acquired CardSpring, a payments infrastructure company that helps merchants work with leading publishers to create online-to-offline promotions.
Twitter's plans for CardSpring are unclear but in a blog post the service says the team and technology at CardSpring will be a "great fit" for its approach towards the future of commerce.
On its website, CardSpring says it will continue to grow its platform and work with its publisher, financial, and retail partners "to create new, innovative commerce experiences for consumers."
CardSpring has previously partnered with Foursquare.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
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Pinterest launches "Interests"
Pinterest is rolling out a new following option, users can now follow specific interests in addition to following other users.
On the virtual scrap-boarding site users can now follow interests like "hiking," "camping," or "running" under the broader "outdoors" category.
Following an interest means those pins will now appear in your feed, saving you the hassle of searching for them.
The new tool should help users find content from people they don't currently follow which has been challenge for the platform that holds more than 30 billion pins.
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