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Facebook Adding Real-World Gifts

by Caleb Johnson on August 21, 2009 at 07:26 AM

Soon, Facebook Gifts will complete its evolution from an annoying virtual trend to a legitimate shopping experience. That means bringing on third-party developers and yes, actual physical gifts.

Inside Facebook reports that the social networking behemoth has decided to offer third-party gifts, which will include their respective developers' logos. More importantly, users will be able to actually purchase real-life gifts with Facebook Credits. Initially, this idea will be launched as a test, but if it's successful, Facebook Credits could pose a threat even to Paypal. Eventually, you could use Facebook's currency to purchase items on sites across the Web. On the developer front, access to Facebook's massive online community is a dream come true. American Greetings Interactive, GreetBeatz, Someecards, and Real Gifts will be among the first to collaborate with Facebook, but you can expect that list to expand quickly.

With this announcement, Facebook is poised to become a major commercial player on the Web. The exchange rate is straightforward (10 credits = $1), and everything else Facebook touches seems to turn to gold. [From: Inside Facebook]

Tags: currency, facebook, gifts, MarkZuckerberg, money, socialnetworking, top, web

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