Amazon and Twitter Team Up on Social Shopping

By Hannah Johnson

Amazon announced on Monday a new feature for Twitter users: reply to any tweet containing an Amazon product link with the hashtag #AmazonCart (or #AmazonBasket in the UK), and that product will be automatically added to your Amazon shopping cart. This new feature is only available in the USA and the UK for now, and requires users to link their Twitter and Amazon accounts.

This powerful combination brings us one step closer to determining whether Twitter actually sells books. Publishers and authors can now track how many people have added a particular book to their Amazon shopping carts as a result of a tweet, which could provide better insight into the effectiveness of certain campaigns, as well as social media marketing in general.

For consumers, #AmazonCart will allow them to see what books and products their friends intend to buy, and to broadcast their own purchases. Word-of-mouth and personal recommendations remain very persuasive elements in terms of how readers discover new books. Now that part of this process will become publicly visible on Twitter, publishers and authors have a new opportunity to observe and influence online book discovery.

Wondering how to use #AmazonCart? Wired has a handy how-to guide for linking your accounts and getting started.

About the Author

Hannah Johnson

Hannah Johnson is the publisher of international book industry magazine Publishing Perspectives, which provides daily information and news about book markets around the world. In addition to building partnerships with international cultural and trade organizations, she works with the Frankfurt Book Fair to organize and support a number of its overseas initiatives. Hannah has also worked as the managing editor for an online media company, The Hooch Life, focused on craft distillers and cocktail experts. Prior to that, she worked as a project manager for the Frankfurt Book Fair’s New York office, managing various business and marketing activities.