Amazon's New Shopping Social Network

On July 19, Amazon announced the launch of their social media platform, Spark. Spark, which is described as, "...just like popular social media platforms Instagram and Pinterest," will allow the online retailer's Prime members to download a mobile application on Apple's iOS. The idea is that these Prime members will be able to post and share stories about products purchased from the site and their experiences, and be able to purchase those products when viewing other's posts.

This will be quite a creative move for Amazon that will undoubtedly increase their sales. Instagram has already been used for quite some time for advertising. Follow any celebrity or Instagram model long enough, and you're bound to see them hawking any number of products. However, until Spark came along, there was always that pesky matter of having to leave Instagram, create a new shopper profile on a new site, share your payment information, etc. It was just enough work to make you reconsider whether or not you really needed to buy more lipstick -even if it's branded as a "lip kit" (eyeroll).

Those more disenchanted with the increasing consumerism of the world probably won't take kindly to Spark, but I, for one, plan to at least try it out. Do you think Amazon Spark has the potential for success?