eBay announced the integration of Facebook’s  Open Graph  functionality into its Magento and GSI global commerce platforms. This will allow developers to build new social shopping experiences for consumers and retailers of all sizes, from small business entrepreneurs to national and global brands. The announcement was made at the X.commerce Innovate Developer Conference.

The Open Graph Protocol, currently in beta testing, lets companies or business users integrate Web pages into the Facebook social graph. Including Open Graph tags on a Web page makes the page equivalent to a Facebook Page. For example, when a user clicks a Like button on the page, a connection is made between the page and the user – the page appears in the ‘Likes and Interests’ section of the Facebook user’s profile. Companies can also publish updates to the user.

eBay’s integration with the Facebook Open Graph will also give third party developers access to eBay’s global commerce technology, including the Magento open commerce platform. Sharing options will include ‘Want’ and ‘Own’ buttons as part of the new social shopping experience.

eBay also plans to integrate Open Graph functionality into its GSI business unit’s Social Media Services framework. This will enable merchants worldwide to offer their customers similar ways to connect with their friends through shopping.

Katie Mitic (Director of Platform and Mobile Marketing, Facebook):  Integrating Facebook Open Graph technology across eBay’s global commerce platforms represents a powerful way to bring people together across an inherently social activity – shopping.