14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is continuing to expand the reach of its new Gifts platform. It debuted a short while ago on the web, it made it on the mobile web not long after that and it's now included in the Facebook iOS app as well.
It's not the only new feature the latest version of the app – 5.1 if you're counting – got, but it's the most strategic. Facebook gifts were introduced only a month ago, at the beginning of October.
The idea is that now you can send your friends actual gifts, i.e. real stuff, if it's their birthday or not.
That's opposed to just typing the same "happy birthday" comment as everyone else, or clicking a like button and calling it a day.
Only Facebook knows if it's proven popular, but one thing is for sure, Facebook seems to be determined to get this one right.
The company is known for lackluster efforts to introduce new feature or copy someone else's and, unsurprisingly, they almost never work.
Facebook check-ins, which still exists, Facebook daily deals, which doesn't, and plenty others are perfect examples.
In fact, the original Facebook Gifts suffered the same fate. Virtual gifts were all the rage on some social networks so Facebook tried to cash in. But they didn't prove popular so it killed the product a few years back.
The new Facebook Gifts started out on the web, where you are directed to buy a gift on birthday notifications. It moved to the mobile web, with a Gifts link to the same birthday notifications.
Now, it's in the iOS app, you can find Gifts on any of your friends' profiles and in the Events section of the app. Obviously, this only works if the feature has been enabled for you and if you're in the US.