Facebook Developing Commerce Solution Via “Want” Button

Facebook is about to make a big push into social commerce by way of a new “Want” button currently being developed by the social network. The “Want” button will apparently allow users to add products to a virtual wish list, share produce purchases and even provide charitable donation suggestions. The button will also provide a list of items purchased if the user allows that feature to be utilized.

The program has not been officially announced by Facebook but was instead discovered by Cut Out + Keep web developer Tom Waddington.

According to Waddington:

“The fact the code contains references to ‘socialcommerce’ is a sign that they’re taking it seriously. In the same way music, news and videos are shared on the site, Facebook is planning to allow users to share both Wants and Purchases, from items bought within games to donations.”

The move to push further into commerce is likely a direct result of the big revenue potential for sponsored links currently utilized by Pinterest and other social sharing-based websites.

Waddington tells Mashable:

“Considering the huge impact Facebook music has had on Spotify and news integration for sites such as Yahoo, social shopping seems to be the next focus. The important distinction is that these aren’t custom integrations — they will be sanctioned and controlled by Facebook, which means they will get the premium placements, similar to the ‘Trending Articles’ unit.”

You can read more about Waddington’s discovery on his blog.

The Facebook “Want” button was discovered in a piece of disabled Javascript coding.