Introducing the Facebook Card, a New Type of Gift Card

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)<p>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.

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.

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.<p>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.

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

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.

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.

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.

<i>Beginning today, people can give their friends gifts to Jamba Juice, Olive Garden, Sephora, and Target all on one reusable gift card from Facebook.</i><p>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.

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.<p>Looking forward to try it here in Canada.

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