Twitter, American Express Letting People Purchase Goods Via Hashtag 106
Nerval's Lobster writes "What could possibly go wrong with this? American Express has announced a partnership with Twitter, giving customers the ability to sync "eligible cards" with the social network. Tweeting special product hashtags (i.e., #uselessjunk) will purchase a product via that synced card. American Express will then send a purchase-confirmation Tweet, and the usual shipping-and-handling of the product will commence. For Twitter, the partnership also holds significant advantages. If this initial foray succeeds, it could potentially evolve into a workable e-commerce model, and thus a separate stream of revenue for the social network aside from advertising. Also, research has shown that people tend to spend more money when using credit cards as opposed to cash. It's also quite possible that a streamlined online purchase mechanism—think any number of e-commerce Websites' "Buy Now" buttons—could compel potential customers to buy more often and in larger amounts."
Re:After you finishing laughing at me... (Score:5, Interesting)
Except that instead of sending the text message to another person's phone, or some corporate address, you're sending it to Twitter, who broadcasts it to the entire world.
The canonical use case is:
Advertiser: Hey, world! Buy a gizmo for $20 by tweeting #gizmo.
You: Why yes! I would like a #gizmo!
Amex: Did you really mean to buy a gizmo? If so, we're gonna charge your AmEx and send it to your house.
You: Why yes! I do have poor impulse control!
Each of these is a 140-char message, all of it showing up on Twitter. Since your twitter feed is (supposedly) locked with a password, it's authenticated to be actually you making the purchase, even though everything is happening in the open and literally broadcast. (Security people may now roll their eyes.)
It's basically taking another canonical Twitter use case and turning it around. Already you get cases like this:
You (at Amazon web page): I want the mega pack of Ex-Lax.
Amazon: Done. Would you like to tell all of your friends?
You: Why, yes, of course. My friends need to know everything about me.
Your Twitter Feed: [You] just bought enough laxative to unplug the Hoover Dam.
Your mom (who follows you on Twitter): @[You], you should eat more fiber!
This kinda skips the intermediate step of buying the product in one place and then having to separately inform your vast army of followers. You combine both into one handy operation.