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Snapchat is adding visual search for Amazon products

Snapchat

Snapchat stock was up nearly 5% Monday after the company announced that it's testing a feature that will allow users to search for products on Amazon by using Snapchat's camera.

Why it matters: Snapchat has invested heavily in making its app more than just a tool for selfies. It wants to become a utility for users that can help them search for products, experience augmented reality and, now, shop.

How it works: Users can now open the Snapchat app and point their camera at a physical product or barcode. Once the camera scans and recognizes the item, it will prompt a card with a link for the product or similar ones available on Amazon. Users tap the card and are then redirected to complete their purchase through the Amazon app.

Sound smart: Snapchat is primarily thought of as a social media company, but these investments in its technology will help it become more like a visual search engine.

The big picture: Social media apps are becoming disruptive e-commerce players, mainly because they are able to leverage social data to better understand and cater to users' interests.

  • Snapchat began rolling out ads that feature augmented reality in April, giving marketers the ability to let users virtually test their goods before buying them.

Go deeper: The next big e-commerce disrupter

Go deeper

Jonathan Swan
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Scoop: Gina Haspel threatened to resign over plan to install Kash Patel as CIA deputy

CIA Director Gina Haspel. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign in early December after President Trump cooked up a hasty plan to install loyalist Kash Patel, a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), as her deputy, according to three senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

Why it matters: The revelation stunned national security officials and almost blew up the leadership of the world's most powerful spy agency. Only a series of coincidences — and last minute interventions from Vice President Mike Pence and White House counsel Pat Cipollone — stopped it.

Go deeper (3 min. read)Arrow
Axios
Updated 3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Health: Coronavirus deaths reach 4,000 per day as hospitals remain in crisis mode — CDC warns highly transmissible coronavirus variant could become dominant in U.S. in March.
  2. Politics: Biden says, "We will manage the hell out of" vaccine distribution — Biden taps ex-FDA chief to lead Operation Warp Speed amid rollout of COVID plan — Widow of GOP congressman-elect who died of COVID-19 will run to fill his seat.
  3. Vaccine: Battling Black mistrust of the vaccines — "Pharmacy deserts" could become vaccine deserts — Instacart to give $25 to shoppers who get vaccine.
  4. Economy: Unemployment filings explode again — Fed chair: No interest rate hike coming any time soon —  Inflation rose more than expected in December.
  5. World: WHO team arrives in China to investigate pandemic origins.
Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Lachlan Markay
3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

John Weaver, Lincoln Project co-founder, acknowledges “inappropriate” messages

John Weaver aboard John McCain's campaign plane in February 2000. Photo: Robert Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

John Weaver, a veteran Republican operative who co-founded the Lincoln Project, declared in a statement to Axios on Friday that he sent “inappropriate,” sexually charged messages to multiple men.

  • “To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry. They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you,” Weaver said.
  • “The truth is that I'm gay,” he added. “And that I have a wife and two kids who I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place.”
Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow