Twitter Tests New Shopping Feature

Twitter is testing some major new features, including a feature that makes it easier for consumers to shop on the social network.

For starters, Twitter introduced product and place pages, which surface and organize relevant Tweets on dedicated pages on the social network. These pages display images and video about the product or place in addition to information like description, price and an option to buy, book or visit the website for more information.

Twitter provides an example page for the book "The Martian," which displays images and a description right above a list of relevant Tweets from accounts the user follows, news updates and popular content about the book (see image below). It is important to note, however, that Twitter is just beginning to experiment with a small number of products and places. As the social network begins testing this feature users may see pages and collections of pages within their timelines that are shared by influencers and brands.

In addition to product and place pages, Twitter unveiled collection pages. With collection pages, Twitter users and brands can create and share collections of products and places. For its testing phase, Twitter put together a group of curators to share collections of some of their favorite places and things, including Demi Lovato, Nike, Target and Reese Witherspoon. That said, the social network notes it plans to expand its list of curators over time.

Twitter users can visit the profiles of curators to view collections. On iOS users can also find collections by tapping the search bar and then selecting from the category-based menu beneath it. Moreover, Twitter announced that it will begin testing even more new experiences in the coming months to deliver further personalized and relevant information about the places and things that people want to explore.

"Every month, millions of people Tweet about what they love: products they buy, places they visit, books they're reading or vacations they're planning. But it can be challenging to find and engage with the most relevant Tweets, images and videos about products and places when you're looking for them. So today we're beginning to test two ways to make it easier for you to discover rich and relevant content about products and places on Twitter," the social network said in its announcement.