Facebook Launches ‘Gifts’

 Facebook Gifts is the rebirth of the mobile social gift-giving app Karma, which was acquired by the social network in May this year. Up to now, more than 100 partners have joined the feature, from Starbucks, to Magnolia bakery, to Uber Cab taxi service. Unfortunately at this moment Facebook Gifts is only available in the United States, but Facebook is planning to gradually roll the feature out to the rest of the world.

Some of you might have heard of the feature “Facebook Gifts” before. Yes, you are right, a couple of years ago, Facebook launched a similar feature called “Gifts Shop”, but it wasn’t successful, so they decided to close it down in August 2010.

Facebook Gifts - First Version

How does it work?

Users can simply buy gifts through the Gift tab or by clicking on Gifts logo on the wall post. The gift will then be sent through a private message and optionally also through the public wall of the recipient. The recipient then unwraps the gift, sees what they’ve been given, and can select styles, colors, or other options. If they don’t like their gift they can secretly swap it for a similarly priced one. If the recipient received a digital gift like a Starbucks voucher, then it will be sent right away to their phone, but if it’s a physical product, it will be wrapped in a Facebook bag and will be sent by the manufacturer to the recipient’s address within a couple of days.

Facebook Gifts - Starbucks

Can Facebook Gifts successfully beat the existed gift services in the US like DropGifts, Wrapp, and Pleasants? What do you think about the new feature? Leave your opinion in the comment below.