Are you excited about having the ability to send your Facebook friends real, tangible gifts? Is it “ability” or “obligation?” Hm. That might make all the difference. Either way, the new Facebook Gifts platform is on the way, and we might get a little more information about it in a couple of weeks.
That’s because the company has sent out some unspecific invitations to the press regarding a Gift-related event set to take place on November 1st at FAO Schwartz on Fifth Avenue.
“You’re invited. Come see what’s new with Facebook Gifts,” it says.
Facebook launched the all new Gifts late last month as an entirely separate venture from the now-defunct Gifts of old, which only let users give virtual presents to other users. This Gifts venture is a true step into the world of ecommerce and has the ability to provide Facebook will a much-needed revenue stream that doesn’t completely depend on advertising.
Giving a friend a gift will be pretty easy. All you have to do it find the gift icon located on a user’s Timeline, or in the event announcement in your news feed. From there, you select a gift (Facebook is starting with over 100 retail partners), pay for it (through Facebook Payments platform) and send a personal message to the recipient. The gift-receiver then selects the specifics – color, size, flavor, whatever – as well as the delivery location.
As of right now, only a small batch of Facebook users are testing Gifts.
What’s the news? More retail partners? Maybe a date for a hard launch to all users? I guess we’ll know soon enough.
[via CNET]