Amazon Launched its Very Own Social Media Platform

US e-commerce company Amazon has launched a social network called Spark that allows consumers to sell and buy products on its platform. This is Amazon's first move in the social networking world, Reuters reports.

Spark, which is currently only available to Prime service subscribers, encourages users to share photos and videos with popular social networks such as Instagram and Pinterest. The new feature was released for public use on Tuesday and is active on mobile devices with Apple's mobile iOS operating system.

Spark users can tag publishing products, and anyone who can view their news list can instantly find them and make purchases through the platform. In addition, users can respond to emoticons that are equivalent to Facebook likes.

"We have created Spark to allow consumers to discover - and shop - stories and ideas from a community that likes what they are," said a spokesman for Amazon.

"When users first visit Spark, they choose at least five of their interests they would like to follow, and we create a list of news with the appropriate content created by others," the company said.

Amazon has also invested media, including paying opinion leaders and bloggers to publish in Spark. Their publications are marked with sponsored hats.

Many social network users have identified it as the intersection between Instagram and Pinterest, with added e-commerce.