Breaking: Facebook adds New Revenue Channel: Social Gifts
This is something I knew about when I worked there but it is finally live today, Gifts. I think most people will see this as something to buy for Valentine’s day and for supporting breast cancer but the real question is will this be a significant revenue model for Facebook.
Will college students care to show social capital through buying virtual gifts for each other?
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Noah Kagan wrote Breaking: Facebook adds New Revenue Channel: Social Gifts on February 7th, 2007 and there are 25 comments. There will be one more after you add yours, though. Read more posts by Noah Kagan.
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25 Responses to “Breaking: Facebook adds New Revenue Channel: Social Gifts”
February 7th, 2007
7:10 pm
[...] Facebook is testing virtual gifts – small icons that you can give to other Facebook members to be displayed on their pages in the “wall” section as well as a new gift area. The test is running with members from just a couple of select schools at this time. [...]
February 7th, 2007
7:21 pm
I don’t really see this taking off. I’ve seen other places were you can purchase virtual items for your virtual self (Meez), but I don’t think that this will be as profitable as selling advertising space.
February 7th, 2007
7:33 pm
[...] Facebook is testing virtual gifts – small icons that you can give to other Facebook members to be displayed on their pages in the “wall” section as well as a new gift area. The test is running with members from just a couple of select schools at this time. [...]
February 7th, 2007
8:10 pm
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February 7th, 2007
8:15 pm
[...] Facebook is testing virtual gifts – small icons that you can give to other Facebook members to be displayed on their pages in the “wall” section as well as a new gift area. The test is running with members from just a couple of select schools at this time. [...]
February 7th, 2007
8:15 pm
This is so silly!!! This is along the lines of microsoft trying to make money by allowing private vendors to sell ‘avatars’ or emoticons for msn messengers.
Dont these idiots ever do market research? If they want to see this take off, they should charge a penny for the gift. Then perhaps that would entice college students. Then again, how much can they really make.
February 7th, 2007
8:38 pm
Naw, Noah’s right: this could be huge: I remember reading about a South Korean social network that had monetized this way—selling users trinkets for the equivilant of about a dollar. They ended up making an average of 55 cents per user per month.
$0.55/month x Facebook’s 7.5 million users* = $4,125,000/month
And sure, college students are cheap, but we’re talking about a buck: the biggest barrier is signing up for Paypal or entering your credit card number.
*I have no idea how many people are on facebook. This is according to Wikipedia, but as of 2005. I’m sure it’s much more now.
February 7th, 2007
8:40 pm
Naw, Noah’s right: this could be huge. I remember reading about a South Korean social network that had monetized this way—selling users trinkets for the equivalent of about a dollar. They ended up making an average of 55 cents per user per month.
$0.55/month x Facebook’s 7.5 million users* = $4,125,000/month
And sure, college students are cheap, but we’re talking about a buck: the biggest barrier is signing up for Paypal or entering your credit card number.
*I have no idea how many people are on facebook. This is according to Wikipedia, but as of 2005. I’m sure it’s much more now.
February 7th, 2007
9:57 pm
[...] Facebook is testing virtual gifts – small icons that you can give to other Facebook members to be displayed on their pages in the “wall” section as well as a new gift area. The test is running with members from just a couple of select schools at this time. [...]
February 7th, 2007
10:27 pm
The charitable angle is probably what will make this *work*. Other than that, I don’t see much value in items I can’t physically hold & touch.
February 7th, 2007
11:40 pm
Attention Facebook! Sell yourself to a big corporate giant and get out before your market value drops. All these social network sites are a hype! You cant really make much money off them. I really dont know how myspace became so popular. Every page I have been too looks so messy and yucky!!! WTF is so attractive about myspace. I dont get it.
Google’s 2 big major mistakes
1) Buying Google Earth.
2) Buying YouTube for that price.
February 7th, 2007
11:56 pm
[...] Facebook teste la vente de cadeaux virtuels – de petits icones que vous pouvez offrir à d’autres membres de FaceBook et qui peuvent être affichés sur leur page mais aussi dans la section cadeau. Le test est en cours sur un nombre limités d’établissements scolaires pour le moment. [...]
February 8th, 2007
12:53 am
Nathaniel,
Cyworld (Korea) is making hundreds of millions all off of virtual gifting. Yes, it is a different culture but the idea that it works so well somewhere is interesting. Also, there is a similarity with so many people spending real money in Second Life should suggest there is some potential….
February 8th, 2007
1:25 am
Cyworld just launched its U.S. version a few months ago, I wonder how they’re doing with their virtual currency with the American users so far?
I think this is gonna be a minor hit, especially among the Male Facebookers, who forgot to buy a Valentine’s Day gift at the last moment.
Nervertheless, Kudos to them for donating a portion of the revenue to charity
February 8th, 2007
1:27 am
I can’t say exact #s but I worked on Facebook Valentine’s Day grams (similar idea) last year and the #s were not too shabby….
February 8th, 2007
1:37 am
Japan, korea is a different market. Hello Kitty is a huge phenomena there….perhaps a billion dollar industry.
College students in Asia are VERY different than college students here. College students in ASIA have money to spend. (I am from Asia).
IF you have it, flaunt it. Thats the Asian style. Education is taken care of by parents in Asia, so there is usually no such thing as working towards college etc…So asian students have more spending power than US students. (When i say Asian countries, I am talking about selected Asian countries)
February 8th, 2007
1:41 am
Sri,
I love your passion / anger. I am glad we are friends;)
February 8th, 2007
8:38 am
thumbs down from me. The throwing shit at the wall to see if it sticks strategy shouldn’t be in FB’s gameplan. The same way they built the community and userbase, they need to build their revenue models. The fact it’s for charity right now, is great.
-JLB
February 8th, 2007
8:53 am
For all students against virtual gifts, join the group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2234798060
February 8th, 2007
12:00 pm
This might get some initial traction due to its initial novelty and valentines day (great timing on their part) I don’t think the American 15-22 year old is open to paying real money to give virtual gifts to real friends. Remember, Cyworld is an avatar based social networking site where the avatar takes precedence over the actual person. You buy/sell/trade articles of clothing/accessories for the avatar, not the in-flesh person. A more comparable website with a virtual gift giving feature would be HotorNot, who has run a program like this for years this for years for ‘real profiles.’ Though the program will likely generate incremental revenue, it’s unlikely to be a huge game changer or differentiator for facebook.
-Nii A. Ahene
February 8th, 2007
1:13 pm
[...] Facebook is on the run. Noah posted an entry on Facebook’s new gifts program that started a few days ago. My guess is that if this TV program is popular and yields success, then Facebook will do a similar music program. [...]
February 8th, 2007
5:52 pm
Virtual stuff is always a hit. If people spent alot of time, to most college students it’s worth it!
February 10th, 2007
3:08 am
[...] Facebook Testing Virtual Gifts By Facebook is testing virtual gifts – small icons that you can give to other Facebook members to be displayed on their pages in the “wall” section as well as a new gift area. The test is running with members from just a couple of select schools at this time. [...]
February 11th, 2007
6:53 pm
I’m a real college student… I use facebook and guess what: I got rid of my myspace account the moment I realized it was the hangout for people trying to steal my money. If facebook continues to try to make money I’ll choose to remove my virtual self from there too. I don’t know if I speak for college students outright, but the thing is, many of us have been living at computers for too long; we could make better icons than they’re trying to sell! I just don’t see the use.
October 19th, 2007
11:06 pm
It is very popular in Asia. No doubt.
Somebody paid 1500USD to purchase a virtual autobike in community, you even could purchase a autobike in real life in this price.
About 4 years ago,I am surprise at this. But now,everybody used this.
Maybe western users will have a little different,but it would works,anyway.
Best regards
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