eBay announced the launch of Smart Hashtags on Wednesday. Users can click on the share widget on a product, guide or other page to share to Twitter or Pinterest, and a box pops up with a shareable link, a text phrase or product title, and one to three of the smart hashtags.
“The phrases — set aside with a hash mark (#) — are optimized to highlight relevant and searchable information for easier discovery,” the company explains in a blog post. “From a business perspective, the addition is also a subtle way of dropping commerce into the social conversation in a non-obtrusive and user-friendly way.”
“Smart Hashtags also aligns to eBay’s goals and the company’s desire to create a more relevant and personalized experience for our customers,” says Corinne Sherman, who came up with the idea. “It capitalizes on consumer behavior — and leads us toward a new path I like to call Social Network Optimization.”
“At eBay, we are constantly trying to do really cool, innovative things with social,” says Sherman. “It’s been a fantastic experience working with teams across the company to execute, automate, and scale Smart Hashtags to enhance the shopping experience.”
She pitched the idea at the eBay Data Conference last year, and software engineer Jing Chen built it.
The feature is live across the site.
Image via eBay