In September 2015 we reported that Twitter had launched a buy button allowing users to purchase things without having to leave the platform. Then, we discussed why this might fail… And now, Twitter is apparently getting rid of it.
The news broke only last week, but according to multiple sources, Twitter had already moved away from the idea 3 months ago. The 25-strong team who developed the project was disbanded, with most of its members departing the company while remaining staff have been reallocated to other projects, such as dynamic product ads or customer service.
Contacted by BuzzFeed News, a Twitter spokesperson was hopeful regarding the performance of Dynamic Product Ads’ (DPAs), saying that they yielded double the click-through rate and conversions compared to promoted tweets. This is probably what Twitter will be betting on over the coming months.
The decision to halt the development of the Buy button is one in a series of CEO Jack Dorsey’s strategic decisions. It seems he wants to invest more resources into Twitter‘s core experience, and focus on what works, and what fits in his vision.
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A few months ago, we shared our doubts regarding Twitter’s endeavours into social commerce, arguing that the “on-the-go”, “live” nature of the platform was ill-suited for the educated, research-reliant shoppers of today. And we turned out to be right. “People are not buying on social media right now. They are still buying, for the most part, on mobile web” a source familiar with the matter told BuzzFeed News.
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Looking at the bigger picture, the Buy button’s unceremonious death is a powerful indicator that buying goods and services directly within social networks is not exactly taking off. Social commerce was predicted as the way forward, but user behaviour is proving otherwise.
While social commerce potentially holds sizable money-making opportunities, the likes of Twitter have yet to figure out a way to take advantage of it without alienating users.
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