Today Facebook announced (and implemented) sweeping changes in its Facebook Gift Shop. Among the changes are the addition of new third-party sellers in the store, the introduction of a Sports category for virtual gifts, and the addition of new music virtual gifts. All gifts in the store must be purchased using Facebook Credits, Facebook's universal virtual currency system.
The new music gifts category is perhaps the most dramatic departure from Facebook's previous virtual gift implementation. Now Facebook users can opt to send songs to each other as gifts, using a music library and streaming interface provided by LaLa.com. Over 8 million songs are available to be sent as virtual gifts through the Facebook Gift Shop.
Users can spend 1 credit to send a Web-based song to a friend that can be streamed from the recipient's Wall or from their Lala.com account (through Facebook Connect). One Facebook Credit is worth roughly 10 cents in official US currency. For 9 credits, users can send a downloadable song in MP3 format to a friend. All songs purchased as downloadable gifts will be DRM-free.
Visitors to a music gift recipient's Wall will be able to see the virtual gift and will be able to stream the full song from the gift once. After that, the gift will only play a 30-second clip of the song to anyone who is not the gift recipient. A downloadable music gift may only be downloaded by the recipient, not by casual visitors to the recipient's Wall.
The Sports section of the Facebook Gift Shop is currently offering gifts branded with the logos of major teams from the NBA, U.S. Major League Soccer, and 25 different colleges and universities including Stanford University and Oklahoma State. All gifts in this category are officially licensed through a Facebook partnership with the virtual goods licensor Virtual Greats.
The initial assortment of college-themed items will include virtual helmets, mascots, jerseys, and pennants. For the NBA-themed gifts, users will be able to purchase a home team jersey for each of the NBA's 30 top teams in addition to 10 "superstar" jerseys that specifically represent top players Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Brandon Roy, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Derrick Rose and Paul Pierce.
"Facebook users have always viewed gift giving as a lightweight way to appreciate and connect with each other," said Jared Morgenstern, Product Manager at Facebook, in a press statement. "The addition of Virtual Greats to the Facebook Gift Shop helps us deliver users a more comprehensive selection of gifts and gives sports enthusiasts a new way to express their passion for their favorite teams and players."
Features previously available at the Facebook Gift Shop are now reorganized into tab-like channels for easier navigation. The traditional assortment of Facebook virtual gifts are now available from the Virtual Gifts channel, gifts that donate some portion of the proceeds toward charity are available at Charity Gifts, greeting card-like gifts will now be available through the E-cards channel, and gifts that involve the delivery of a physical good to the recipient are now available through the Real Gifts channel.
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