Editor's Note: Has Real Social Commerce Finally Arrived?

Despite all the buzz around social media over the past several years, the concept of "real" social commerce — when consumers can actually buy merchandise directly from whichever social network they're visiting and wherever they happen to be — has eluded the industry. A year ago, for example, investors hailed Facebook commerce, or "f-commerce," as the next big thing, speculating that it had the potential to threaten Amazon.com and PayPal's e-commerce juggernaut. After all, they reasoned, since Facebook is the most visited website in the world, persuading visitors to shop directly on the site would be easy.