Is Facebook Testing a ‘Want’ Button?

Facebook may be testing a “Want” button that would allow you to add products to a virtual wish list.

According to Tom Waddington, a web developer for the site Cut Out + Keep, Facebook has a disabled “Want” button included in the Javascript coding its list of social plug-ins. This means that — in addition to existing plug-ins such as subscribe and the Like button that allow users to see friend activity across the site — a “Want” button would likely allow members to see what items others in their network want to purchase.

“The code was released to the Facebook Javascript SDK on Wednesday,” Waddington told Mashable. “I keep track of the changes to the file.”

Waddington said he discovered a few other new tags — such as “degrees,” “page events,” “social context” and “privacy selector” — but they don’t seem to be working as well: “I’m still exploring the code to see what else is new.”

Although the button is currently not listed on Facebook’s developer site as a social plugin, Waddington said that the Want button would only work on Open Graph projects with under the tag “products.”

Waddington tried to install the Want button onto his blog, but received an error message in the process.

“The button displays on the site, but clicking it shows an error message,” Waddington said. “Facebook hasn’t enabled any apps to publish Wants yet.”

Facebook hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment. Waddington’s discovery was first noted by Inside Facebook on Thursday.

The Want app would allow the company to collect a lot of information about member interests, just as the Like button already does. The move would also allow merchants greater integration with Facebook without having to build their own apps or platforms.

“E-commerce sites could increase social exposure by including a Want button,” Waddington said. “It will not require authorizing an app and will publish a “user wants product’ story in the news feed.”

He added that apps users authorize will likely be able to access the “wanted” products through the API, so Facebook could provide a universal wish list.

“If Facebook allows sites to include prices and product data such as ISBN numbers, then it will become really powerful,” he added.

Would you be interested in seeing a Want button on the site? How do you think it could impact the retail industry? Let us know in the comments.