Facebook Wraps Up a New Way to Give Gifts

I was on my  son’s Facebook Timeline this morning (yes, I am that kind of mother) and I noticed that the gift tab is now showing up.

 

The gift tab shows up right in the status update box.

When you click on the GIFT tab, you see a few optional gift ideas to choose from.

I chose the snowman cookie card for Nick (the handsome young man seen in the corner below).

As you can see, there is a pretty nice preview for Step One — with some pertinent details about the gift you are about to purchase for your Facebook friend. The price displays in the top corner and things like shipping costs and packaging is clearly highlighted. Seems pretty straightforward (assuming I was really gong to buy him a “famous buttercream-frosted snowman cookie.”

On to Step Two

 

 

Choose the holiday card you want sent with your Facebook gift and add your personal note.

Stumped for a message? The card appeared with an auto-message (see above). You don’t even have to think about what to say in your card. 🙂 The “From” shows up as your Facebook name, but you can change it to whatever you want.

Step Three

 

 

Review your order and then decide if you want to keep it a secret or share the gift purchase on your friend’s Timeline. The gift shows up on his wall all wrapped up until he enters his shipping info.

 

You can also decide to pay right away or pay when your friend enters his shipping info.

You can now buy, give and ship a real gift on Facebook in just a few minutes.

So I started thinking about how I would use this new feature. Just last week a client sent me a gift, with a note that read “Enjoy your gift! I have adopted Sean Stephenson’s philosophy of every quarter acknowledging those people who are my advocates. Thank you for advocating for me!” When I saw the Fed Ex man pull up next to my house I thought it was just another Christmas gift I had ordered from Amazon. Imagine how excited I was to find the package addressed to me. Yes, I love the Fed Ex man (and the UPS guy, as well). My heart skips a beat whenever I see one of them stop in front of my house. So, would I get the same thrill to see a wrapped package show up on my Facebook Timeline. Maybe so.

Maybe this is a cool way to show your gratitude, easily, to friends and clients? I’m not sure.

In the case of my surprise gift, I took a picture of the gift and posted it to my wall with a “Look what I got today!” So, maybe that’s kind of the same thing? Maybe this gift-giving process just removes that step?

What do you think of this new Facebook feature? Does it just reek of “another way for Facebook to make money”? Or would you actually use this as an easy way to give gifts to your Facebook friends?

Love to hear your thoughts.