Social-minded ecommerce merchants have been waiting for this day. Twitter just announced that it is...... Social-minded ecommerce merchants have been waiting for this day. Twitter just announced that it is officially testing a "Buy Now" button which will enable users to purchase from select merchants and musical artists directly from the social network's stream.... The Twitter Buy Now button will only be available to a select group of users before being introduced more widely in the coming months - as in "just in time" for the holidays most likely. Brands including Burberry and The Home Depot, and artists like Ryan Adams and Megadeth are some of the first...

While there are certainly best practices to be followed on Twitter, what will ultimately be trending...... While there are certainly best practices to be followed on Twitter, what will ultimately be trending on Twitter is almost anyone's guess. From meerkats and goats to a dress and a news item (take your pick), Twitter users can make a topic trending quickly. After all, thousands of Tweets are sent every second on Twitter.

:: by Lindsay Whitehurst, Website Magazine Special Contributor :: One way to think of Twitter ...... One way to think of Twitter is as a digital watercooler, a gathering place for people to talk about their favorite TV shows, latest news or make a political statement.... "About 400 million tweets are sent through the platform every day," said Adam Bain, Twitter's president of global revenue, at the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit in March. The platform now has 200 million active users, up from 100 million a year ago.

No one ever built a monument to a critic, but on Twitter, a well-crafted complaint should at least r...... No one ever built a monument to a critic, but on Twitter, a well-crafted complaint should at least result in some attention from the "complainee" - and it better be fast according to Twitter users.... New survey research from Lithium Technologies reveals that consumers will reward brands that use Twitter to meet their expectations, but punish those that fail to respond in a timely manner. The Lithium research indicates that customers have rather high expectations when it comes to response times...

Within the past 12 months, Twitter has moved from a curious time waster to a serious business tool. ...... Within the past 12 months, Twitter has moved from a curious time waster to a serious business tool. To some consumers, that's a problem - another user-oriented tool being invaded by business. To others, it's a way to connect to businesses like never before. And to businesses of all sizes, it's... an opportunity that cannot be missed. And as more consumers join Twitter and the service gains visibility in the public eye, people will not only accept businesses, but expect to find and actively search for them (you) just like in the blogosphere.

Speculation about a Twitter acquisition has hit fever pitch with reports that the social media netwo...... Speculation about a Twitter acquisition has hit fever pitch with reports that the social media network may get a formal bid soon.... With Twitter's large audience - particularly among business users - it could be a pretty pickup for a tech company offering customer relationship management (CRM), which is why Salesforce is at the top of the list of possible acquirers.

Twitter has not had the best history with third-party developers but it is increasingly opening up i...... Twitter has not had the best history with third-party developers but it is increasingly opening up its platform and that could change some minds.... The company announced a beta test that will enable developers to display MoPub ads directly within Twitter kit timelines in Android and iOS apps. What that means is that with just a few lines of code, developers can display a dynamic timeline of Tweets that include advertising that can be monetized. It's a big step forward for Twitter.

Despite Twitter's popularity over the last eight years, the majority of brands still face mark...... Despite Twitter's popularity over the last eight years, the majority of brands still face marketing challenges on the social network.... According to a recent survey conducted by Social Media Marketing University, 96.2 percent of brands report having challenges with using Twitter to achieve specific goals. Moreover, 45.1 percent of brands claim their greatest challenge on the social network is measuring return on investment (ROI...

Most Web workers will consider Twitter more of a social network than an ecommerce platform, but tha...... Once known as Sell Simply, Chirpify enables merchants (or anyone processing an order really) to conduct direct, person-to-person payments and donations over Twitter through its retail sales platform.... To use Chirpify, merchants simply click the "list on Twitter" button when drafting an item listing for sale in their ecommerce dashboard. Inbound sales information appears as either an email or as part of the retailer's back-end system, as well as via a DM on Twitter. There are three Chirpify pricing plans (Basic, Pro, and Enterprise).

Twitter is easily one of the most hyped platforms on the Web over the past year. And rightly so; it'...... Twitter is easily one of the most hyped platforms on the Web over the past year. And rightly so; it's astronomical growth rate is a rarity. But according to new data from Compete.com, Twitter's growth has hit a major wall. From April to May, Twitter's unique visitors grew just 1.4 percent - a far cry from when traffic more than doubled from February to April. Does this mean that Twitter mania is over?