Facebook Rolls Out 'Want,' 'Collect' Buttons

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Facebook is testing a new “Collections” program with a select group of retailers. Facebook users will now be able to click “Want” or “Collect” buttons, in addition to the “Like” button, to demonstrate their interest in certain products.

According to Cnet, a Facebook spokesperson explained the program as follows:

We’ve seen that businesses often use Pages to share information about their products through photo albums. Today, we are beginning a small test in which a few select businesses will be able to share information about their products through a feature called Collections. Collections can be discovered in News Feed, and people will be able to engage with these collections and share things they are interested in with their friends. People can click through and buy these items off of Facebook.

“Facebook is currently testing a few different versions of Collections, which has now rolled out to 100% of users. Fans of the seven partners – Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria’s Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com — may see one of three designs for the button overlaid on photos these Pages post to the news feed,” reported Josh Constine for TechCrunch. “The ‘Want’ button adds a product to a Timeline section called ‘Wishlist’ visible to friends of friends, the ‘Collect’ button saves to to a Collection called ‘Products’ that’s visible to friends only, and a special version of the ‘Like’ button will also add to ‘Products’ but that’s visible to friends of friends. Facebook is showing each version to a third of users, and will be watching to see which generates the most traction and satisfaction.”

PCMag’s Damon Poeter noted, “The Collections feature won’t be a social plug-in or available outside of the Facebook site for now.”

The Telegraph observed, “The feature has been compared to Pinterest, a social network that allows members to create a pinboard of products they would like or want to buy.”