People talk on Twitter, they crack jokes, they share pictures, and they even try to sell things. Just as users used to have to link out to images before the service started offering that service natively, users will soon be able to make purchases without having to hop out to another site. Twitter is currently testing a feature that will embed a buy button directly into tweets.

When a user decides they want to buy something, Twitter will prompt them for their shipping and payment information. After that, it will send the order to the merchant, encrypt the data, and store it for use again later. Sellers won't actually see the credit card information without a buyer's permission, and shoppers have the option to delete the information from their account at any time.

Twitter is looking for additional ways to make money and maintain growth. This test has been rumored for some time now, and if it takes off, the company can bring in revenue handling the transactions.

For now, the functionality is limited. The list includes shops such as The Home Depot, organizations such as GLAAD, and more than a few musicians (Eminem, Pharrell, or Paramore anyone?). The full list is available in Twitter's blog post, but we will have to wait until these accounts all start sending out tweets in order to try things out firsthand.

Source: Twitter blog