American Express and Twitter team up to turn tweets into transactions

Twitter and American Express have teamed up to allow card holders to make purchases using hashtags.

The partnership is an extension of the American Express Amex Sync feature, which will let card holders buy products from Amazon, Sony, Urban Zen, and Xbox 360.

"We know there is significant power in combining our assets with Twitter's platform to bring value to card members and merchants," said senior vice president of digital partnerships and development at American Express Leslie Berland.

American Express users ithat sign up for the feature can link their card with Twitter to open up an Amex Sync account. Those that sign up will receive offers from various firms with a hashtag code to make a purchase.  

Users then tweet the hashtag to the American Express twitter handle and confirm the tweet to make a final purchase. Current deals offered by the service include a $150 Amazon Kindle Fire and $10 off a $25 Amex gift card.

The move continues American Express's push into online tools. Last May, American Express group president Dan Schulman claimed that consumer data is the "Holy Grail of digital commerce" and urged firms to push through privacy concerns to use user's online data.

For Twitter, the partnership builds on its efforts to develop new ways to make money. Earlier this month, the firm acquired social TV analytics firm Bluefin, the deal was reportedly made to increase the firms advertising offerings.

Twitter also unveiled Vine earlier this year. The social video platform was released to iOS last January.