Facebook (FB) Wants You to Replace 'Like' with 'Gift'
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Spend time on Facebook? Wish you could immediately give/send a gift when some special event is coming up, rather than have to click over to a new website?
Worry no more, Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) has you covered.
Facebook introduced Facebook Gifts today, allowing users to "...send gifts from birthday reminders, or from your friend's timeline."
Facebook will allow you to pay then or later and the friend provides the address. (What if they don't like/want the gift? Yikes.)
From photos on the Facebook site, it looks like gifts include Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) gift cards, build your own chocolate bar, teddy bears, and more.
In creating the site, Facebook is looking for yet another way to bolster its revenue stream. Initially, where Facebook has an advantage is in contacting the recipients for the address, so users won't have to worry about that part. Also, its unlikely that many users will shop around to send a gift when a button to do so its right there and so convenient. Thus, the Company should be able to charge a higher price for the goods. This could be troublesome for Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), where you generally have to have someone's address locked-down to send them something.
If that doesn't seem like a big deal, look at your smartphone right now. How many up-to-date addresses are in there? We're betting that outside of relatives, close friends, and business associates, probably not many.
Facebook is up in late trading Thursday.
Worry no more, Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) has you covered.
Facebook introduced Facebook Gifts today, allowing users to "...send gifts from birthday reminders, or from your friend's timeline."
Facebook will allow you to pay then or later and the friend provides the address. (What if they don't like/want the gift? Yikes.)
From photos on the Facebook site, it looks like gifts include Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) gift cards, build your own chocolate bar, teddy bears, and more.
In creating the site, Facebook is looking for yet another way to bolster its revenue stream. Initially, where Facebook has an advantage is in contacting the recipients for the address, so users won't have to worry about that part. Also, its unlikely that many users will shop around to send a gift when a button to do so its right there and so convenient. Thus, the Company should be able to charge a higher price for the goods. This could be troublesome for Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), where you generally have to have someone's address locked-down to send them something.
If that doesn't seem like a big deal, look at your smartphone right now. How many up-to-date addresses are in there? We're betting that outside of relatives, close friends, and business associates, probably not many.
Facebook is up in late trading Thursday.
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