Facebook Tests New “Collections” Feature

Facebook has begun testing a new feature called “Collections,” which will let retailers provide new ways for Facebook fans to share products they like with their friends. It comes in the form of a new type of Page post that is eligible to appear in the news feed.

For the test, people will be able to engage with Collections by “liking”, “collecting” or “wanting” the products. Facebook is testing these three actions, and is creating three distinct groups of users to test each action. Products within a Collection will also have a “Buy” link, sending people offsite to purchase a product.

The feature is not a social plugin, and it’s not available offsite (yet, at least).

Facebook has given us the following statement on the feature:

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 the feature with Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria’s Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics and Fab.com.