Facebook set for big social commerce push

It’s amazing what you can find hidden in a piece of code. The future strategy of the world’s largest social network, for instance.

The developer who found out that Facebook was working on a “want” button has uncovered a new piece of code that suggests the social giant is working on a new series of actions that would allow people to share what they’d bought, which charities they’d donated money to, and what items they’d bought in games like Farmville.

According to Mashable, Tom Waddington, a web developer for the site Cut Out + Keep, reached out to it with the discovery.

“The fact the code contains references to ‘socialcommerce’ is a sign that they’re taking it seriously,” Waddington told the tech news site. “In the same way music, news and videos are shared on the site, Facebook is planning to allow users to share both Wants and Purchases, from items bought within games to donations.”

If it comes to fruition, the new feature could see a lot more merchants coming on board with Facebook as it gives their products a the kind of social appeal as Pinterest offers but on a much larger scale.

“Considering the huge impact Facebook music has had on Spotify and news integration for sites such as Yahoo, social shopping seems to be the next focus,” Waddington said. “The important distinction is that these aren’t custom integrations — they will be sanctioned and controlled by Facebook, which means they will get the premium placements, similar to the ‘Trending Articles’ unit.”

Given the perilous position Facebook’s FCommerce offering found itself in a while back, a successful social commerce offering could prove very much welcome.