Twitter on Monday said it would begin testing a new "buy" button feature that would let some U.S. users make a purchase directly from a tweet, signaling the social-media company's bid to expand into e-commerce. Twitter TWTR, +2.56% said the test will involve "a small percentage" of U.S. users and aims to "make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy," the social network said in a blog post. "Users will get access to offers and merchandise they can't get anywhere else and can act on them right in the Twitter apps for Android and iOS," Twitter said. "Sellers will gain a new way to turn the direct relationship they build with their followers into sales." The move signals Twitter's bid to expand its revenue sources beyond online ads, a market in which the company has quickly emerged as a major player since going public late last year. Twitter reported in July that its total ad revenue more than doubled year-over-year in the second quarter to $277 million. In a Monday note, MKM Partners analyst Rob Sanderson maintained a bullish view of Twitter telling clients, "We believe it is the best map to consumer interests available to marketers today. In traditional media, advertisers use demographic profiling to guess the interests of most of the consumers of the media outlet and insert marketing." "We think Twitter has potential to become the most powerful platform for consumer marketing, ever," he added. Source: MarketWatch
