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Shopping Gets More Social with Twitter Shops

By Laura Tucker
Twitter Shops Featured

It’s clear that Twitter is trying to move away from the bad reputation it’s had lately. For the past year, it’s been dipping one toe at a time into e-commerce, ramping it up even more with its announcement of Twitter Shops.

Also read: How to Search Twitter Like a Pro

Social Shopping

Social media as a whole just hasn’t been in a good place the past few years. Misinformation has abounded and tainted it. But now, all the social networks are clamoring to join e-commerce. Instagram and Facebook – both products of Meta – have always been involved, and now TikTok and Twitter are jumping into the space as well.

Twitter Shops Instagram
Instagram Shops

Twitter seems to be like a teenager who is searching to find their true self: trying new styles, new friends, etc. In the past year, Twitter has launched creator tools, a subscription version, newsletters, tipping, live audio, and more.

The social network first jumped into e-commerce last summer when it allowed merchants to add a “Shop Module” to their profile. However, this only gave users a choice of five of the merchants’ products.

Last November, Twitter started testing a livestream shopping platform. Walmart was the first to be featured, and now Gopuff and Samsung have joined in as well.

Introducing Twitter Shops

In a blog post on Wednesday, Twitter announced its newest feature, noting that Twitter Shops “gives people the chance to view products from the profiles of your favorite brands, so when you talk about and discover products on the timeline, you can browse them on Twitter, too.”

Twitter has hand-picked merchants to go live with the Shops feature. This initial group includes @Verizon, @ArdenCove, @LatinxInPower, @GayPrideApp, and @AllIDoIsCookUS. Users who can take advantage of this new feature are initially limited to iPhone users who read Twitter in English.

Twitter Spaces Iphone

Merchants who are featured in Twitter Shops will have a “View Shop” button in their profile. Instead of only having five items like the Module tested last summer, merchants can include up to 50 items. You can click on an item to learn more. If you choose to purchase, you’ll check out on the merchant’s website.

Twitter says on the blog post that “people are talking about products on Twitter” – but I’m not so sure that’s true. If you talk to a random group of people, I don’t think Twitter would be among the first site mentioned as an outlet for product discussion.

That’s something Twitter appears it wants to change. It mentions in the blog post that it will “explore how to make Shops more discoverable, adding new ways for merchants to tell their brand story through their Shops, expanding the number of products merchants can showcase, and bringing Twitter Shops to more merchants and more people.”

With all of these new features Twitter has added this past year, its users were crying “RIP Twitter” at one point. But while the revamped social network hasn’t been taking the Internet by storm, it’s still holding its own.

Image Credit: Twitter

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Laura Tucker Avatar
Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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