American Express and Twitter turn hashtags into purchase: A good reason to stay off Twitter when you're hitting the wine.

I've been impressed with how innovative American Express has been with Twitter, going back to when they first introduced their Card Sync technology over the holidays that gave cardmembers automatic discounts credit to their account just for using hashtags. (Liz got a very pretty bracelet from Bendel's!)

Now Amex has launched a new experience that actually allows synced American Express users to make purchases on Twitter with a hashtag or "Tweet to Buy!" Pretty amazing, right? Here's how it works: 

To get started, you'll want to sync your eligible American Express card, keeping in mind that if you've previously synced your card for other couponless promotions, you'll still need to do it again. Then, you'll tweet a specific #hashtag for the product you want to purchase and confirm your purchase after receiving a reply from @AmexSync.

(Yay for that confirmation. Very smart call.)

It's not just the convenience of shopping from Twitter you'll get by doing this; you'll be afforded special offers and deals too. 

In fact the first big promotion as part of their launch today is a $25 American Express Gift Card for $15. Just sync your card, tweet #BuyAmexGiftCard25 and then confirm the purchase. And keep your eyes out later this week for cool deals on products from Amazon, Sony, and Xbox. And, we imagine, a whole lot more. What brand or retailer wouldn't want to get involved with something that makes shopping just a few characters on your keyboard away? Besides, the brands get the benefit of their consumers literally promoting the deals out to their own followers by the mere act of shopping themselves?

The future of retailing is here. And it looks pretty darn cool. -Kristen

For more information on the Sync with Twitter program from American Express, visit their site. 

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