You can now tweet political donations
Twitter is the place to go to talk (and rally and rant and argue) about the candidates you support (or hate). And now, as the 2016 presidential campaigns are heating up, you can put your money where your hashtag is.
Tuesday, Twitter -- in a partnership with Square, a mobile payment company -- launched a feature that lets Twitter users contribute to political campaigns through a tweet.
"When people have conversations about politics, they have them on Twitter," the company said in its announcement. "It's what voters learn and share in these conversations that routinely motivates political action. That's why we're making it easier for Twitter users to actively support candidates and causes."
Twitter told the Associated Press that tweets related to the August 6 Republican primary debate were viewed more than 1 billion times on Twitter and elsewhere on the web.
Campaigns can set up an account through Square Cash to solicit and accept donations via a unique url or "$Cashtag." When users see a tweet with a $Cashtag in it, they can click on a "contribute" button to enter a donation amount, along with their personal info (as required for election contributions) and debit card number. Then, of course, they have the option to tweet out their support -- and their chosen candidate's $Cashtag.
At least a dozen presidential hopefuls plan to start using the system right away, according to the Associated Press.