Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) Blends Facebook Inc (FB), Pinterest

There is a new shopping concept on the Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web site that seems to combine features of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) with those of Pinterest to develop not only shopping opportunities for users, but also an interactive social experience that may develop a digital version of word-of-mouth marketing.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is rolling out Brand Pages for its numerous partners, allowing them the opportunity to be more social on the site and perhaps encourage more attention from consumers. The description of the makeup of the pages is a blending of some of the best things about Facebook Inc (FB) and Pinterest, wrapped up in the Amazon merchandising template. The top of the Brand Page has a highlighted product photo, which users can click on to add to their Cart. Below that, the partners can choose one of three templates – All Products, Products with Merchandising, and Posts Only.

How this entire concept will look is still in progress, but the understanding is a couple of the templates will allow for photos of products that link to the individual product pages or will have a “buy” or “Add to Cart” button, while the Posts Only template will allow brands to use Facebook-like posts to promote the company and its products on Amazon. It appears at this point that users would be able to cross-promote their chosen products or Brand Pages to their Facebook Timeline, but it doesn’t appear to have Twitter compatibility. As there has been talk that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is considering an e-commerce portal to directly compete with Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), giving Amazon users the ability to cross-promote on Facebook could be a way to disrupt or intercept the idea.

“Whereas Amazon is already a trusted commerce platform, Facebook has yet to prove that the model works there or that people will buy from Facebook,” said Matt Wurst of 360i. “It may be a preemptive measure, but at the very least, it’s a great way to let users promote their Amazon/brand experience through the social graph, telling their friends what they bought, and potentially driving others to Amazon.”

What do you think about this idea? Does Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) need to become more social as an e-commerce site? Does providing its brands a new platform for marketing going to help the bottom line for Amazon? and in turn, how will this affect investors like billionaire Jim Chanos of Kynikos in terms of their stock holdings?