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Facebook Gifts

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Re: Facebook Gifts

#81

Post by imcqueen »

boredguy8 wrote: post #24

"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.

It's an interesting idea and relevant to one of the major actions users take on facebook (birthday/well wishes).

I think you're right that it's "sufficiently close", but I'm struggling with how I define that. It's essentially someone close enough that I would give them a gift, but not so close that giving them a gift through FB is too impersonal.

Do you have friends that you call or hang out with on their birthday but don't write on their wall? Most of my fb well wishes are from loose connections. My real friends call, text or hang out with me on my bday. Facebook is the least personal touchpoint I'm available through, but maybe I'm an exception.

PS - I think it's been said, but combining gifts is probably the key here(i.e. everyone chips in to get you something).

Re: Facebook Gifts

#82

Post by MojoJolo »

Pick out the perfect gift, add your message and it's ready to ship – no address needed.

I'm intrigue with that no address needed. How to ship without the address?

Re: Facebook Gifts

#83

Post by kin »

Anyone remember the old Facebook gifts? The ones that were virtual? People even paid for those! I think people will for sure participate in this. Who doesn't want to extend a nice gesture to their friend.

Re: Facebook Gifts

#84

Post by jpadvo »

MojoJolo wrote: post #82

Pick out the perfect gift, add your message and it's ready to ship – no address needed. I'm intrigue with that no address needed. How to ship without the address?

The recipient is notified of the gift, then needs to input their own shipping address.

Re: Facebook Gifts

#85

Post by sebastianavina »

gfodor wrote: post #70

I'm super bullish on this. I think this will end up being FB's first big cash cow. I never thought advertising was anything more than a stop-gap to cover costs, Zuck has always hated ads. Personally I thought their big revenue stream would probably be to start charging for FB Connect, but this makes more sense. They are basically hooking in at the right point of intent to convert a user, which is exactly why Google c…

basically they are now on amazon's ground

Re: Facebook Gifts

#87

Post by jmj4 »

rishi wrote: post #36

It looks like Facebook allows businesses to add their products into their "Gift Store" https://www.facebook.com/help/444702442234880 This might be a great way to get your physical product in front of millions of people.

Perfect for local business shops too. Think of a local flower shop, I bet birthday orders could be huge for that type of thing. It scales decently as well if the business adds itself.

Re: Facebook Gifts

#88

Post by jbwyme »

When I first started reading, I thought "Now THIS is something Facebook should have been doing all along. It's a perfect fit.". Then I read:

2. Your friend is notified instantly

Friends enter their own shipping info and can swap for a different size, flavor or style before the gift ships.

What!? This seems like a huge product miss. It's almost the equivalent of buying someone a gift card. It removes the element of surprise that makes gift giving great and takes a lot of personality out of giving the gifts. I get that it's more practical but since when has giving gifts been about practicality?

IMO it would be a much better implementation to say "a friend is sending you a gift! Fill out your address so we can ship it out to you: ...".

Re: Facebook Gifts

#89

Post by robryan »

This is going to be great for merchants that can get on. I'd imagine Facebook are going to be even harder to work with than something like the Amazon Marketplace, the last thing they will want is what should be low friction gift transactions to go wrong.

As someone who sells online in cosmetics (which covers a to of stuff that makes good gifts) I do hope they open it up a fair amount. I would imagine though they are going to be fairly restrictive for a long time about who they partner with though.

Re: Facebook Gifts

#90

Post by cbhl »

gfodor wrote: post #70

I'm super bullish on this. I think this will end up being FB's first big cash cow. I never thought advertising was anything more than a stop-gap to cover costs, Zuck has always hated ads. Personally I thought their big revenue stream would probably be to start charging for FB Connect, but this makes more sense. They are basically hooking in at the right point of intent to convert a user, which is exactly why Google c…

I wonder what will make the world more ready for this than it was for Beacon back in the day (Amazon purchases automatically showing up in the News Feed).
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