Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Gifts

facebook.com

51–60 of 119 posts

Re: Facebook Gifts

#52
Here is something interesting Facebook can/may do: Apart from showing variations of the gifts (such as colors, flavors, etc.) have another option of "Save $xx as Facebook Credits." Once people have Facebook Credit sitting in their accounts they'll be more inclined to use Facebook to pay for things.

Re: Facebook Gifts

#53

I'm friends with a few people on Facebook who I'd consider to be very popular. 1000+ friends with many guys vying after their attention. Every time they post a picture of themselves it will be hit with 50 likes (mostly from males) in the first hour. I bet these people will be swimming in gifts once it's released.

Excuse me while I switch over to Google Images to gather some fake profile pics.

Re: Facebook Gifts

#54

"It's Mary's birthday in 3 days - send her a birthday cupcake?" I would probably click "yes" if it's Not for every FB 'friend', but there's a 'sufficiently close' threshold where, yes, I'd click that button. Even better if it's day-of fulfillment. And I bet I'm not alone.

Such a convenient way to make an empty and meaningless gesture!

Re: Facebook Gifts

#55
post #23

"Now you can do something more meaningful" (than a hey, happy birthday call or message). It disappoints me when I hear wording like this, there is nothing more meaningful about paying money for a present that took you two clicks and is probably already part of a pre-selected group of items from their profile/history, than thinking of something to write on their wall in two clicks. All power to Facebook to make it wor…

I'd rather get a message from someone than a cupcake with no personal message any day of the week. When I was a child and I cared more about material objects that the people around me and whether or not they care for me, I would have picked the cupcake. But I don't use Facebook either, so I guess this whole Gift's thing doesn't really apply to me.

A message simply saying "Happy birthday!" isn't particularly personal either. I made my birthday unpublic to avoid them.

(But I'm atypical in that I don't particularly care about birthdays.)

Re: Facebook Gifts

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a selected vendor, I must say they do seem focused on quality. I'm clearly biased but the impression I got from the buyer is they're being very picky. Another thing that will be tricky is separating signal and noise. If I'm buying a birthday gift for my punk rock friend, they shouldn't bother showing me cupcakes and chocolate boxes. Seems like a no-brainer to show me gift options based on his likes.

I would love to hear more, if you have more to share.

They're selling a lot of things that you would expect to see on fab.com. And I think they only have 100 vendors to start?

All Things D has a good write up: http://allthingsd.com/20120927/say-hello-to-gifts-facebooks-...

Re: Facebook Gifts

#59
post #6

Oooh, now that's the way to get real names + addresses out of people. Neat. It also involves social pressure -- now not giving away your address will mean rejecting a gift.

That's an interesting insight! I'm curious, does anyone know how much more valuable a user is (in $$$) if they have a confirmed real name + address vs. unconfirmed?

Hugely... Especially if you're developing a payments platform.

Re: Facebook Gifts

#60
I think FB needs a lot more of this. Their API is basically essential for many tech startups these days, and a lot of things 3rd parties are doing they could and should be doing themselves. Where is the FB game development studio? The FB Spotify competitor (not FB music that was a rubbish attempt)? FB Yelp? FB amazing-idea-of-tomorrow-that-utilizes-the awesome-power-of-nearly-a-billion-users?

I still think the FB marketplace is something they haven't spent nearly enough time on. Oodle just isn't cutting it, and FB could easily compete with eBay or Craigslist. In fact, Facebook should be competing with CL in everything. I don't think it needs to be motivated by revenue, but by an actual desire to make amazing products using the FB graph in all those areas. Just some thoughts.

Post reply on HN