The Facebook ‘Like’ button is now part of popular culture and is the easiest way for us to show our approval of a friend who has dumped their partner or our disgust at an X Factor judging decision.
With the Like button, words are not necessary to show that you are a fan of something; a simple click of the thumbs-up button is enough. For so long, Facebook users have demanded a ‘Dislike’ button to allow them to show their disapproval to someone’s status, however,
Mark Zuckerberg and Co have persistently said that this will never happen. What they have never ruled out though is adding to their arsenal of buttons in a different way, which brings me on to the introduction of a ‘Want’ button.
Facebook has been looking for ways to make their product more business friendly and provide increased interaction between brands and users, and the ‘Want’ button may prove to be the perfect solution.
In a statement emailed to PC Mag, Facebook is currently engaging in a “small test in which a few select businesses will be able to share information about their products through a feature called Collections.” Those select businesses are Pottery Barn, Victoria’s Secret, Wayfair, Smith Optics, Fab.com, Neiman Marcus, and Michael Kors.
The ‘Collections’ test
This Facebook Collections test will allow retailers to share more details about products with users. Facebook say that the test comprises “three actions being tested separately.” First of all, users will be able to Like the collections tey see, which is of course natural. The third of these three actions is a ‘Collect’ button which can be clicked on by users if they are in the process of collecting an item from the collection. As with the Like button, your friends will see what it is that you “want” or are “collecting” on their Timelines. Quite cleverly, there will also be a Buy link for each product so that friends can also purchase items from a Collection.
There have been hints for some time that Facebook were looking into the possibility of a Want button, but it has often been though that the button would be in some way linked to media. By using it on the retail side of things, brands will be able to use the feature to get consumers excited and build the hype surrounding products.
Facebook users will be able to see the Collections feature in News Feeds, but Facebook has said that it will not be made available outside of the site or as a social plug-in for now.
