Amazon has launched social network-like, Instagram-inspired feature that encourages users to pictures of the products they’ve bought.

As first reported by TechCrunch, Amazon Spark is aimed at Prime members to improve their product discovery through posts on the Amazon app. These posts can be reacted to with comments and ‘smiles’ – which are Amazon’s answer to a like or favourite button.

Amazon has been testing the feature in beta for a few months before launching to consumers in the US – though people in other countries can access it, if they change their country settings to the US.

Spark is available through the ‘Programs & Features’ menu option in the Amazon iPhone app only. Here, users are asked to select at least five interests they want to follow, and a customised feed of products, imagery and ideas is provided based on this and the things the user shops or searches for.

Products featured in posts are, obviously, shoppable through Spark – and this is carried out via a tap of a shopping bag on the post, which takes the user to the product’s page.