Facebook Gifts...A Great Way to Pretend You Remembered Your Friend's Birthday

Source: http://articles.cnn.com/2012-09-28/tech/tech_social-media_facebook-gifts_1_facebook-gifts-gift-shop-gift-optionsWe are all guilty of forgetting a good friend’s birthday…until Facebook reminds us.  Now Facebook is taking birthdays (or other Facebook-prevalent events like engagements, weddings, babies, new job…) to the next level.  Facebook recently rolled “Facebook Gifts” in some areas of the US which lets you send a gift, in the $20-30 range or below, to your friend through the Facebook platform.  While the gift has to be from one of the “approved” retailers launching with Facebook for this feature, this seems like a great tool for last-minute gift-givers and a good way to pretend like you didn’t forget your friend’s special occasion.  Starbucks and Magnolia Bakery are among the launch retailers.  According to the CNN article, “Facebook is touting Gifts as a way to choose, buy and ship real-world presents in just a couple of moments without ever having to leave the site. The user may choose to keep the gift private or share it with friends and is given the option of paying immediately or when the gift is received.”  The gift recipient receives an immediate alert, digital greeting card and preview of the gift and reply where they would like the gift sent (which should only take a couple of days per Facebook).  A cool feature of Facebook Gifts is that the user can also choose the color, size or flavor of the gift (if applicable) and even has the option to exchange it for something else if they’d like.

I’m interested to see how this feature takes off – I mean, Facebook is one of the primary reasons we remember friends birthdays.  I’m wondering if the publicity of the gift giving will have viral-like effects, meaning once a gift given is public, it could encourage others to give gifts to that person, or to others.  Or maybe if you’re the recipient of gifts, you’ll be more likely to give others gifts for their birthdays?  I’m also interested to see whether gifts will go digital, such as e-gift cards.