Amazon debuted some new Facebook integration today, allowing users to read reviews written by their social media friends, see what items they have on “wish lists,” and a few other features.
Once connecting your Facebook account with Amazon — it was actually already done for me, surprisingly — you can now see what your friends have reviewed or “wished” for with Amazon’s wish list when viewing a certain product. For example, when checking out the Samsung Galaxy Gear, for example, you’ll be able to see what your friends have said about it or if any of them wish they had the watch. Only public wish lists are viewable, and you can opt out of the feature here.
Amazon also now makes it easy to share your own purchased products or written reviews on Facebook. In addition, the Seattle retail giant uses your Facebook likes to recommend products for you.
Amazon unveiled a similar feature about one year ago with “Friends and Family Gifting,” which lets you import your friend list and birthday info from Facebook, then tells you which of the friends are “connected on Amazon” and automatically finds their Amazon wish lists, if they have them. Today’s new feature does nearly the same thing, but integrates it directly on the product page.
And this past summer, Amazon debuted Amazon Birthday Gift as an easy way for anyone to start an Amazon gift card, and then recruit mutual friends on Facebook to add $1-to-$25 to the card. The end result is one big “social” gift card with a personalized message that appears on the recipients’ wall on the big day.
