6 ms·

Introducing the Facebook Card, a New Type of Gift Card

35 points by derpenxyne 14y ago

dmschulman 14y ago
Does Facebook really drive that kind of commerce? Micropayments on Facebook games is one thing, but I remember a time when you could buy little badges and icons for your friends to place on their wall. That didn't last too long. Not to mention the hum drum partners FB is pairing with. Olive Garden? Really? Facebook's new monetization strategy is to do what the checkout lane at my local supermarket has been doing for years.
- micampe 14y ago
  > Facebook's new monetization strategy is to do what the checkout lane at my local supermarket has been doing for years. If you put it that way Google’s monetization strategy is what Yellow Pages has been doing for decades. Does’t seem to be working that bad so far.
- saadmalik01 14y ago
  I think it's more than that. Not too long ago, Facebook acquired Karma (http://getkarma.com http://getkarma.com), which had quickly become one of my favorite services because they made gift-giving into a fun and dead-simple process. In fact, it was addictive - I remember sending at least three gifts within the first two weeks of downloading Karma on my iPhone. And since Karma was already built on top of Facebook's social graph, the acquisition made perfect sense and enhanced the overall experience even more for its small but loyal users. I think introducing a gift card was the next logical step to bring it to the mainstream.
hadem 14y ago
I can barely trust Facebook when it comes to privacy settings. Personally, I'd never mix finances with Facebook.
- derpenxyne 14y ago
  By the converse opinion, if you actually set the privacy settings on Facebook, and Google for that matter, to your comfort level, your data is probably more secure than if you weren't using Facebook or Google etc.
  - webwanderings 14y ago
    I think by now it is obvious that issue is not about privacy anymore rather how these gigantic companies are "using" your data to their advantage, and not really yours!
  - stephenr 14y ago
    How can data that is leaked and or used by Zuckerberg & co possibly be more secure than data that doesn't exist (eg because I don't use fb)
agotterer 14y ago
I think it's a smart move. I doubt this will directly be a major revenue stream. But there's more at play here. FB has been trying to figure out ways to track and collect retail data for a while. Remember beacon? This seems like an interesting way to start understanding what you buy and where. Thus making advertising even more efficient.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
millerc 14y ago
I love it. This may very well be the first monetization attempt I can tolerate from Facebook: it's (finally) a win-win scenario for all parties involved, and it makes a superb use of both the social graph and the fact that nowadays every aunt, uncle and nephew have an account on Facebook. Brilliant. Looking forward to try it here in Canada.
JSadowski 14y ago
It looks like this is just a prepaid credit card with dedicated balances for each merchant. While I'm sure Facebook has buy-in from the merchants (as they are using their logo and other brand marks), in theory Facebook could offer gift cards for arbitrary merchants. At POS Facebook just uses the merchant identifier to determine which balance to approve funds and subtract from -- aside from that, it works like a normal prepaid credit card.
- ch 14y ago
  It doesn't appear that this is the case. This is more like a multi-gift-card (not sure of any technical term for it) than a pre-paid credit card. From all I can see, you can't use it to make purchases at any merchants other than the ones which have balances on the card. This is much like the Verizon Visa Gift Card that was being given out when you would sign up for certain FIOS services. It was a Visa credit card, except it was not able to be used at any Visa accepting merchant, but only Verizon approved merchants. Hardly a normal pre-paid credit card.
  - JSadowski 14y ago
    That's my point... from the merchant standpoint there is no additional integration required... they just process it as a credit card. Facebook limits the spend based on the merchant identifier that gets sent to them from the POS. Basically they've created a multi-gift-card using existing credit card technology without the partners needing to update their POS to support it.
hinathan 14y ago
So will FB (eventually) make a timeline post on my behalf when I buy coffee?
stephengillie 14y ago
Beginning today, people can give their friends gifts to Jamba Juice, Olive Garden, Sephora, and Target all on one reusable gift card from Facebook. Looking at their initial retail partners, they have a beverage store, restaurant, cosmetics store(?), and big-box retailer. For contrast, they aren't starting with Starbucks, Cheesecake Factory, CVS, and Sears.
nakedrobot2 14y ago
Why would I want to use this? It will result in Facebook tracking more of my (or the benefactor of my gift's) movements, and then selling that info (or letting it leak out via sleazy apps that steal all my info) Is this solving any problem or filling any hole in the market? Of course it's filling facebook's data hole in that they can't currently track what I buy. I'll keep that between myself, the retailer, and my bank. Thanks anyway.
- stephengillie 14y ago
  Example: If you have a friend who likes Jamba Juice, and you wanted to get the person a gift card. Are you going to spend the time to actually find a Jamba Juice and go there to buy a gift card? Or are you going to just click "buy as a gift for Friend" on Facebook? Another option is to buy the gift card at another store, but then you're just filling Safeway's data hole or Target's data hole instead of Facebook's. Is that better?
  - stephenr 14y ago
    Seriously who buys gift cards for a shop that sells drinks? More importantly - a gift card in a shop can be bought with cash if you choose, and even if I used a credit card, my bank doesn't show me ads because I shopped somewhere
    - j_s 14y ago
      > Seriously who buys gift cards for a shop that sells drinks? I had to re-read that several times, trying to decide if your 'Seriously' was seriously serious or not... http://www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/ http://www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/ > Starbucks Company Statistics > Year Value of Gift Card Activations > 2011 $820,500,000
      - stephenr 14y ago
        Oh of course I forgot we're talking about Americans. I should have asked what sane person buys a gift card for a shop that sells drinks.
tiziano88 14y ago
I just don't get gift cards. Why would I give someone 20£ and then force them to spend them in a particular shop, rather than giving them cash or transferring money through the bank? It is a honest question, I've never given or received a gift card, I might just be missing something obvious.
- benatkin 14y ago
  I got a $50 Starbucks gift card from someone who works at Starbucks, thanking me for a favor. That's one reason I suppose.
- EliRivers 14y ago
  "Why would I give someone 20 and then force them to spend them in a particular shop" Why _wouldn't_ you do that, if the circumstances suggested it? It's a way of giving someone some freedom in choosing their gift, while restricting it to a range. Maybe I want to buy someone a really nice suit, but I know they'd never do it themselves; they just can't bring themselves to spend a lot of money on a nice suit - they permanently dress in cheap clothes from discount stores. If I give them cash, they feel guilty for spending it on a suit, and also guilty if they _don't_ do that, because they know I wanted them to spend it on a nice suit. Gift voucher ahoy. I'm sure you can imagine other circumstances. Others that leap to my mind are; forcing someone to buy books instead of blowing it on alcohol and skateboards; making it harder for someone to buy drugs with it (there are always ways to launder gift vouchers, but the discount can be huge); giving gift vouchers for some place they really love as a way of demonstrating that you've actually thought about it. When someone gives me cash, it suggests to me that they haven't put in any effort. I'd rather they got me something that cost a fiver but they actually know I like, than giving me a twenty. I already have some money and from the point where I started working full-time, unless someone is going to give me a life-changing amount of money, they might as well not bother. A well thought-out gift-voucher can be a half-way house. Furthermore, when you give someone money (unless you give a life-changing amount), it just goes into their pocket with the rest of their money. Some will go on an electricity bill, some will go on food, some will be train fare, it'll all just disappear in things they were going to do anyway. Unless they were living on the breadline, you've made no difference - there is nothing that they have, or did, that was because you gave them some money. You might as well have not bothered. Money - it's the gift people don't even notice.
mnicole 14y ago
I can totally see the desire for multi-vendor gift cards, but I'd almost rather see a company like Simple handle that, not a brand synonymous with shady practices and the rest of my personal data as-is.
- calciphus 14y ago
  Amex and Visa do this already. Facebook is just the entry point for Discover, the least-accepted-credit-card in America.
  - mnicole 14y ago
    Ah right, I didn't think about that. Chase also has the Liquid card now, but it costs a monthly fee.

35 points by derpenxyne 14y ago

Does Facebook really drive that kind of commerce? Micropayments on Facebook games is one thing, but I remember a time when you could buy little badges and icons for your friends to place on their wall. That didn't last too long. Not to mention the hum drum partners FB is pairing with. Olive Garden? Really? Facebook's new monetization strategy is to do what the checkout lane at my local supermarket has been doing for years.

micampe 14y ago
> Facebook's new monetization strategy is to do what the checkout lane at my local supermarket has been doing for years. If you put it that way Google’s monetization strategy is what Yellow Pages has been doing for decades. Does’t seem to be working that bad so far.
saadmalik01 14y ago
I think it's more than that. Not too long ago, Facebook acquired Karma (http://getkarma.com http://getkarma.com), which had quickly become one of my favorite services because they made gift-giving into a fun and dead-simple process. In fact, it was addictive - I remember sending at least three gifts within the first two weeks of downloading Karma on my iPhone. And since Karma was already built on top of Facebook's social graph, the acquisition made perfect sense and enhanced the overall experience even more for its small but loyal users. I think introducing a gift card was the next logical step to bring it to the mainstream.

hadem 14y ago

I can barely trust Facebook when it comes to privacy settings. Personally, I'd never mix finances with Facebook.

derpenxyne 14y ago
By the converse opinion, if you actually set the privacy settings on Facebook, and Google for that matter, to your comfort level, your data is probably more secure than if you weren't using Facebook or Google etc.
- webwanderings 14y ago
  I think by now it is obvious that issue is not about privacy anymore rather how these gigantic companies are "using" your data to their advantage, and not really yours!
- stephenr 14y ago
  How can data that is leaked and or used by Zuckerberg & co possibly be more secure than data that doesn't exist (eg because I don't use fb)

agotterer 14y ago

I think it's a smart move. I doubt this will directly be a major revenue stream. But there's more at play here. FB has been trying to figure out ways to track and collect retail data for a while. Remember beacon? This seems like an interesting way to start understanding what you buy and where. Thus making advertising even more efficient.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

millerc 14y ago

I love it. This may very well be the first monetization attempt I can tolerate from Facebook: it's (finally) a win-win scenario for all parties involved, and it makes a superb use of both the social graph and the fact that nowadays every aunt, uncle and nephew have an account on Facebook. Brilliant. Looking forward to try it here in Canada.

JSadowski 14y ago

It looks like this is just a prepaid credit card with dedicated balances for each merchant. While I'm sure Facebook has buy-in from the merchants (as they are using their logo and other brand marks), in theory Facebook could offer gift cards for arbitrary merchants. At POS Facebook just uses the merchant identifier to determine which balance to approve funds and subtract from -- aside from that, it works like a normal prepaid credit card.

ch 14y ago
It doesn't appear that this is the case. This is more like a multi-gift-card (not sure of any technical term for it) than a pre-paid credit card. From all I can see, you can't use it to make purchases at any merchants other than the ones which have balances on the card. This is much like the Verizon Visa Gift Card that was being given out when you would sign up for certain FIOS services. It was a Visa credit card, except it was not able to be used at any Visa accepting merchant, but only Verizon approved merchants. Hardly a normal pre-paid credit card.
- JSadowski 14y ago
  That's my point... from the merchant standpoint there is no additional integration required... they just process it as a credit card. Facebook limits the spend based on the merchant identifier that gets sent to them from the POS. Basically they've created a multi-gift-card using existing credit card technology without the partners needing to update their POS to support it.

hinathan 14y ago

So will FB (eventually) make a timeline post on my behalf when I buy coffee?

stephengillie 14y ago

Beginning today, people can give their friends gifts to Jamba Juice, Olive Garden, Sephora, and Target all on one reusable gift card from Facebook. Looking at their initial retail partners, they have a beverage store, restaurant, cosmetics store(?), and big-box retailer. For contrast, they aren't starting with Starbucks, Cheesecake Factory, CVS, and Sears.

nakedrobot2 14y ago

Why would I want to use this? It will result in Facebook tracking more of my (or the benefactor of my gift's) movements, and then selling that info (or letting it leak out via sleazy apps that steal all my info) Is this solving any problem or filling any hole in the market? Of course it's filling facebook's data hole in that they can't currently track what I buy. I'll keep that between myself, the retailer, and my bank. Thanks anyway.

stephengillie 14y ago
Example: If you have a friend who likes Jamba Juice, and you wanted to get the person a gift card. Are you going to spend the time to actually find a Jamba Juice and go there to buy a gift card? Or are you going to just click "buy as a gift for Friend" on Facebook? Another option is to buy the gift card at another store, but then you're just filling Safeway's data hole or Target's data hole instead of Facebook's. Is that better?
- stephenr 14y ago
  Seriously who buys gift cards for a shop that sells drinks? More importantly - a gift card in a shop can be bought with cash if you choose, and even if I used a credit card, my bank doesn't show me ads because I shopped somewhere
  - j_s 14y ago
    > Seriously who buys gift cards for a shop that sells drinks? I had to re-read that several times, trying to decide if your 'Seriously' was seriously serious or not... http://www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/ http://www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/ > Starbucks Company Statistics > Year Value of Gift Card Activations > 2011 $820,500,000
    - stephenr 14y ago
      Oh of course I forgot we're talking about Americans. I should have asked what sane person buys a gift card for a shop that sells drinks.

tiziano88 14y ago

I just don't get gift cards. Why would I give someone 20£ and then force them to spend them in a particular shop, rather than giving them cash or transferring money through the bank? It is a honest question, I've never given or received a gift card, I might just be missing something obvious.

benatkin 14y ago
I got a $50 Starbucks gift card from someone who works at Starbucks, thanking me for a favor. That's one reason I suppose.
EliRivers 14y ago
"Why would I give someone 20 and then force them to spend them in a particular shop" Why _wouldn't_ you do that, if the circumstances suggested it? It's a way of giving someone some freedom in choosing their gift, while restricting it to a range. Maybe I want to buy someone a really nice suit, but I know they'd never do it themselves; they just can't bring themselves to spend a lot of money on a nice suit - they permanently dress in cheap clothes from discount stores. If I give them cash, they feel guilty for spending it on a suit, and also guilty if they _don't_ do that, because they know I wanted them to spend it on a nice suit. Gift voucher ahoy. I'm sure you can imagine other circumstances. Others that leap to my mind are; forcing someone to buy books instead of blowing it on alcohol and skateboards; making it harder for someone to buy drugs with it (there are always ways to launder gift vouchers, but the discount can be huge); giving gift vouchers for some place they really love as a way of demonstrating that you've actually thought about it. When someone gives me cash, it suggests to me that they haven't put in any effort. I'd rather they got me something that cost a fiver but they actually know I like, than giving me a twenty. I already have some money and from the point where I started working full-time, unless someone is going to give me a life-changing amount of money, they might as well not bother. A well thought-out gift-voucher can be a half-way house. Furthermore, when you give someone money (unless you give a life-changing amount), it just goes into their pocket with the rest of their money. Some will go on an electricity bill, some will go on food, some will be train fare, it'll all just disappear in things they were going to do anyway. Unless they were living on the breadline, you've made no difference - there is nothing that they have, or did, that was because you gave them some money. You might as well have not bothered. Money - it's the gift people don't even notice.

mnicole 14y ago

I can totally see the desire for multi-vendor gift cards, but I'd almost rather see a company like Simple handle that, not a brand synonymous with shady practices and the rest of my personal data as-is.

calciphus 14y ago
Amex and Visa do this already. Facebook is just the entry point for Discover, the least-accepted-credit-card in America.
- mnicole 14y ago
  Ah right, I didn't think about that. Chase also has the Liquid card now, but it costs a monthly fee.