Really digging the new trendy shirt posted on Fab.com’s Facebook page? Thanks to a new feature introduced by the social networking company, you can now “want” it.
Facebook announced yesterday that it will launch Collections, a new service that lets businesses create photo albums of products that a user can then “want,” “like,” or “collect.” Facebook is currently testing out the three different buttons.
Once a user clicks on the “want” button, which appears on the top left corner of the image, that item will appear on their “Wish List” and News Feed. It will also include a link that sends people offsite to purchase the product.
Currently, Collections is only offered to certain vendors. In addition to the aforementioned Fab.com, users can “want,” “like,” or “collect” items from Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria’s Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, and Smith Optics.
A Facebook spokeswoman also confirmed that Collections is not a social plugin and is not available outside of Facebook.
Collections is very reminiscent of Pinterest’s pinboard features that let users of that platform collect items and display them to their followers.
The move to add the new feature makes sense for Facebook, which has seen its share price drop since its May 2012 initial public offering. Tailoring and creating more features for vendors who rely on the social network could be a valuable new revenue stream for the social network.
“Facebook has been an integral place for businesses to engage with customers both old and new,” said a representative for the company.
At least one analyst thinks the move is the right one for Facebook.
“E-commerce is one of the best ways to monetize the Internet,’ said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at financial services firm Robert W. Baird.
“Thinking about how large they are as a platform and how engaged people are, there are lots of levers they haven’t pulled yet in terms of monetization.”
Some Facebook users don’t think the “want” button is all that great, though, and they’re disappointed it will arrive before another much-requested Facebook feature.
“why dont they just give us a dislike button like we wanted in the 1st place????” Erik Jenkins tweeted.
Photograph via Fab.com/Facebook