In a new move aimed essentially at giving a social edge to online shopping, Internet retail biggie Amazon announced on Tuesday that it was allowing Amazon shoppers to connect their Amazon and Facebook accounts.

The move, will which shoppers’ friends to ‘accompany’ them on Amazon.com, is apparently a strategic decision by the online retail giant, which has ventured into the arena fairly early – thanks to the suggestions based on purchases and searches, as well as reviews from other customers.

With the move in place, customers will have a “Facebook profile” on Amazon too, whereby their favorite books, movies and TV shows will be listed. There will, however, be no interactive links with Facebook’s graph API, or any new sharing features on Amazon.

As a result of the new Amazon move, customers will likely seek the advice of their friends while shopping; especially getting hint about their friends’ choices from what they may have said on Facebook; thereby making it easier for them to selects gifts for their friends.

However, Amazon has clearly stated some terms of use for its customers for connecting their Amazon and Facebook accounts. These terms of use include – Amazon will share neither the users’ information nor their purchase history with Facebook; it will not attempt to contact the Facebook friends of its customers; and it will also never post anything to the Facebook Wall without the consent of its users.