Facebook makes another push towards a more shoppable social network
A change for the better.
Just when we thought our shopping addiction couldn’t take over our lives any more, Facebook does this to us. The social networking giant announced a new plan on Monday to integrate a shopping function into its mobile app.
You may already be aware of the numerous Facebook groups dedicated to selling and buying items, so this comes as a welcome initiative by Facebook to make these pages more user-friendly.
Facebook outlined recent efforts that span new advertising formats, including the introduction of “Buy” buttons and a “Canvas” format that allows users to explore a catalogue of products before going to the retailers website to buy. There is also a “Shop” section on a retailers Facebook page, and a dedicated “Shopping” feed.
The function is being tested with a small number of US businesses for now, and would eventually allow us to see products all in one place.
While this may be a win for both Facebook and businesses, are we really ready to ditch the family photos and cat videos for one big online-shopping network? Only time will tell.