An article at the Technology Blog of The Guardian about the future of another Facebook toy, GIFTS caught my eye in Twitter the other day. This is a busy blog; they post several times a day. You can read it at the link or you can take a chance and look for it.
“And it’s goodbye from them: Facebook Gifts that is” is welcome information. What was planned as a revenue stream for Facebook didn’t fly because people just weren’t into spending even $1 on a virtual gift. They might consider it to advance their play at a game, but not for someone else’s birthday. And, if it were my birthday, I would much rather have the cash.
Maybe the economy had something to do with the decision. But, there are other things at work in the social media field. People who are moving through the social media meadows want the happy streams to flow. They want to pop little messages to one another, quickly ‘like’ and move on. It is wonderful, but also superficial. Taking that extra time to complete a $1 transaction didn’t fit the pattern. The “Facebook Credits” that the writer mentions might have more appeal. IStockPhoto works that way. You buy a lot of little $1 and $2 photos, but you have to deposit more than $1 into your account to even get started. Then, the 2nd and 3rd choices, until your credits are used, seem fairly painless.
When I used to do the games, someone posted in a forum that a good credit card was the best Mafia Wars weapon a player could have. Gave my parsimonious nature a chill!
Being like that, I have made my small contribution to the failure of the Facebook gifts revenue dream. And I don’t feel bad about it at all.
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