Facebook 'Gifts' Service

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acebook has released a brand new service that allows individuals to send gifts to friends through the company’s own social networking site. This move signals the social networking giant’s entry into the E-commerce space. Facebook has actually designed its Gift service based on a social gift service site called Karma which it had acquired a few months ago.

              Using the Facebook ‘gift’ service, people can Select and send a range of gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and many other occasions. And the best part is, these gifts are real, and not virtual! Folks can select their preferred gifts that can be anything from a Gund teddy bear toy to a Starbucks gift card to a chocolate, and choose the person to whom the gift has to be sent and add a message card to it. The giver can also send a personal message to the recipient’s Facebook Timeline to notify him or her that a gift has been sent. What’s even more special about this service is that it gives recipients the option to choose their desired preferences such as the size and color of the gift.

              Facebook has been focusing on incorporating the new gift service to its birthday reminders that pop up on the News feeds section a week prior to the birthday. Users can find an option right below the birthday notification that says, “Choose a gift for (your friend’s name)”.

              This is an obvious move by Facebook after it had acquired ‘Karma’. This gives Facebook an opportunity to get a firm grip on the e-commerce space. Lee Linden, cofounder of Karma, recently stated in an interview that his site was designed mainly for e-commerce operations. Now that Facebook has integrated the smart back-end infrastructure of Karma with its site that encompasses millions of users only seems to be a big boost to the company’s revenue inflow.

              But the big question here is why should people purchase and send gifts through the Facebook’s gift service rather than doing it on their own? Well, this could be one reason that might make people not use the Facebook ‘gift’ service. As of now, Facebook emphasizes only on e-commerce gifts but has plans to expand its operation on various e-commerce departments. But there are some attractive benefits of using the Facebook ‘Gifts’ service as well. For instance, if people in a community want to split the cost and send a gift to the head of the group, then Facebook ‘gifts’ service serves as an ideal platform. Moreover, as Facebook generates timely notifications on important events using its ‘events tool’, users don’t have to worry about failing to remember the date of the event. Add to it, Facebook has an information-rich database on its users’ interests and preferences.

              As of now, Facebook has targeted the e-commerce space with social media games contributing bulk of its revenue inflow. All in all, Facebook’s entry into the e-commerce space is a big boon to its revenue – the bulk of which it derives from its social networking platform. Overall, Facebook’s jump into the e-commerce department makes more sense because e-commerce tools such as gifts and games is more user-friendly when compared to the social or mobile ads that are hard to understand.

Heather Protz, a freelance writer for USAheadlines.com – offers full home security to help protect your family, assets from burglary and other crimes. ADT Security Services