As Twitter’s IPO filing revealed, the company continues to lose money despite attracting millions of users from across the world, and a new batch of leaked screenshots might provide clues as to how the network is going to increase its revenue in the future. Images dug up by Re/code show a ‘Twitter Commerce’ mock-up complete with Buy buttons embedded in your stream.
If the images are genuine, the purchase offers displayed in your Twitter feed will be along similar lines to the Promoted Tweets that already appear on the network. The mock-ups were found on retail site Fancy.com, and show a “Buy with Fancy” button enabling users to click through and order a product without ever leaving Twitter. “Customers will be accustomed to buying products in the same way as they buy content from the App Store,” runs one of the slides.
This rumored new feature shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: we know Twitter is looking to add ways to further monetize its network, and the company is said to be in discussions with payments service Stripe about providing a seamless purchase flow for users.
Another feature shown in the unverified screengrabs was a tracking map that lets you keep an eye on your goods from within the Twitter application. How many of these options make it through to the final version, and who Twitter will partner with to make the service work, remains to be seen.
There was no official word from either Twitter or Fancy as the images came to light, but inside sources hinted to Re/code that while the screenshots were only mock-ups, Twitter Commerce is on the way and discussions are on-going. Would you be happy to be able to pick up a bargain from your Twitter timeline? Or would you rather keep your social networks for social activities only? Share your opinions in the comments.
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