Facebook Virtual Gifts Make Big Bucks
Published by Rodney Rumford September 2nd, 2008 in Facebook.Facebook Virtual Gifts Make Big Bucks: It has long been known that virtual gifts are fairly popular on facebook. A solid feature that has been on facebook for quite some time is the virtual gifts. Every day there is a new virtual gift that you can send someone for a real world price of $1.00. This is very high margin business for facebook.
Jeremy Liew over at Lightspeed Ventures has done some extensive facebook gifts number crunching and calculating to determine how much revenue facebook generates from these virtual gifts. According to his calculation facebook generates approximately 35 million annually from the the gifting feature. “The vast majority of facebook gifts are bought from the first screen of gifts in the directory - almost 80% of the total sales come from the group of the first 20 gifts.”
I happen to be one of these people that actually uses real money and pays to send virtual gifts on facebook. I am often asked why I would spend real money for a few pixels of screen space on facebook. The answer is fairly simple as to why I would do this; people will know I care enough to spend real money attached to a thought (gift). There is something psychologically different for the recipient to know “that he cared enough to spend a buck”. This effectively creates a whole new category of gifting; and it dovetails perfectly into the inner workings of a social network.
There is also a perceived scarcity factor that comes into play with facebook limiting the number of specific gifts available. There is this very subtle psychological nudge that moves people to action before the gift gets “sold out”.
Facebook Gifts that are close to selling out.
This is music to the ears of premium virtual goods content providers like us at Beelya
$35 million a year on virtual gifts!
Now, the dollars you spend to send virtual gifts can also make the world a better place.
A new nonprofit app on facebook, Changing The Present, makes it easy. Your dollar goes to the nonprofit you choose, and the picture your friend receives shows what you helped accomplish.
THEN: send a picture of a cupcake
NOW: help feed a hungry child
THEN: send a picture of lips
NOW: help fund cleft palate surgery for a child’s smile
THEN: send a picture of a flower
NOW: help preserve acres of the rainforest
You can choose from among more than a thousand $1 donation gifts from hundreds of leading nonprofits.
Imagine the impact we can make together as this new kind of gift catches on!
Please help spread the word.
Here’s the app:
http://www.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2551062524
Full disclosure: my company, WellGood LLC, consults to http://www.ChangingThePresent.org
Here is company that is doing something cool with virtual gifts on Facebook:
http://beelya.com/
They sell authorized virtual memorabilia from sports stars. Check it out.