MarketWatch explains:
Celebrities and brands are letting consumers buy products or donate to their charities simply by adding a hashtag like #buy to their tweets. In February, American Express announced cardholders could purchase certain products for a limited time from Amazon, Sony and a few other partners by tweeting with special hashtags. In November, Lady Gaga sold fans an album and accompanying merchandise for $57.98 (plus shipping) via a Facebook post. All they had to do was respond to her offer with the hashtags #buy and #ARTPOP. And on Tuesday, Eminem promised to match donations dollar for dollar for Twitter TWTR -1.47% users who gave money by tweeting #donate to Wolverine Human Services, a social-services agency in the rapper’s native Michigan.
How can a simple hashtag lead to a purchase? In American Express’s case, cardholders first had to sync their credit card with their Twitter account; once they did that, a tweet of the specified hashtag allowed them to purchase goods. Both Lady Gaga and Eminem worked with a company called Chirpify , which launched last year and lets consumers sign up on Chirpify once, enter their personal and credit-card information, and then, when campaigns like Eminem’s or Lady Gaga’s launch, they can tweet, Facebook or Instagram a specified hashtag and buy items instantly.
No thanks. I'm tired of having to link my *insert product here* to the internet and social media.
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