facebook gifts

Newly flush with wine, Facebook Gifts rolls out to all U.S. users

With two weeks of Christmas shopping left, Facebook is making Facebook Gifts available to all users starting today.

"Now you can instantly send real gifts, digital gift cards, charitable donations and wine to your friends right from Facebook," the company said in a short blog post.

Catch that last item? Wine. For the first time, Facebook users will be able to send alcoholic beverages to one another using the service, so long as both sender and recipient are older than 21.

Wine partners include Amuse Bouche, Blackbird, Bonterra, Capture Wines, Clark-Claudon, David Family, Domaine Chandon, Goose Cross, Mondavi, … Read more

Facebook adds iTunes to Facebook Gifts

Facebook and Apple are joining their massive forces again, this time encouraging Facebook users to send iTunes gifts to their friends directly within the social network.

Facebook added iTunes digital gifts to Facebook Gifts gifting service today, letting users send iTunes recommendations along with cash credit for purchases.

A user can search for a specific song, album, movie, game, or apps to recommend along with gifts in denominations of $10, $15, $25, or $50.

The social network's move to add Apple to its retail partner list for Facebook Gifts comes shortly after it announced the inclusion of more than… Read more

Facebook Gifts: Important but not about the money (just yet)

When Facebook added a slew of retail partners to its Gifts product last week -- complete with a splashy party at FAO Schwartz in New York -- some observers got excited about the social network's ongoing march into e-commerce, even claiming (incorrectly, I would argue) that this helped push the stock up more than 6 percent on Friday.

Not so fast.

Facebook's decision allowing users to buy and send physical gifts is a shrewd move that could potentially grow into a $1 billion business (more on that in a moment). For now, however, the play seems less about … Read more

Facebook kicks off holidays with Gifts expansion

Facebook made a big commercial splash in New York City this evening, announcing several new partnerships for its gifting service in time for the holiday shopping season.

The social network wanted to create some buzz and used a press event at the FAO Schwarz in New York today to highlight the new retailers coming on board for Facebook Gifts.

"Facebook gifts is a combination of real moments with real gifts," Lee Linden, head of product for Gifts, told the room of reporters.

Linden told CNET that the new gifts will be available throughout the U.S. in the … Read more

Facebook iOS update improves messaging, photos

Facebook hopes to make it easier to for users to chat and upload multiple photos on their mobile devices through a new iOS app released today.

In addition, the camera feature lets users add different filters to their photos, a la Instagram -- owned by Facebook. Twitter is also moving to add photo filters to its mobile app in a bid to stay competitive.

For messaging, you can swipe to the left anywhere in the app to see who's available for messaging, and mark friends you message the most in your Favorites. Facebook says the new Camera upload process … Read more

iPad Mini launches with mini lines

While CNET's New York office waits for power to come back after the storm, we're bringing you the Update show from our San Francisco office. Friday's top tech stories include:

- iPad Mini launch day: Lines were smaller compared to a typical iPhone or iPad launch, but there were still some crowds. New York saw a long lines at the 5th Avenue store, which was sold out of iPad Minis two hours after it opened. One analyst estimates Apple might sell as many as 1.5 million iPad Minis over the weekend.

- Apple released its first … Read more

Donate to charities using Facebook Gifts

Facebook is adding a new product within its gifting service -- charitable donations.

As part of the social network's Facebook Gifts service, users can now send donations in a friend's name to organizations like the Red Cross, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, or DonorsChoose.org.

The launch comes during the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the superstorm that's destroyed homes and left countless people without power.

"We are especially pleased to be launching this test now -- when so many people are looking for new ways to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, or assist … Read more

Facebook to hold Gifts event at FAO Schwartz in New York

Facebook has sent out a barebones invite to a press event in New York next month to unveil some news about Facebook Gifts, the social network's new gifting service.

The invite, sent out to media today, features the text "You = Invited," with a gift bow in the background. The event will take place the evening of November 1 at the FAO Schwarz on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, according to the invite.

A Facebook representative said the company had nothing else to share besides the info on the invite.

The Facebook Gifts service, which went live late last month, … Read more

Facebook survey says users don't want promoted posts

Most people won't pay for a promoted post, but they would shell out the cash to buy their friends a gift through Facebook, according to a report from brokerage firm Sterne Agee.

The report (posted below) was based on a survey that asked more than 750 Facebook users to weigh in on the social network's latest ideas for making money -- increased advertising in the form of sponsored stories, Facebook gifts, promoted posts, and a possible search engine.

Of the four potential moneymakers, promoted posts is the least likely to succeed, according to the survey. When this feature … Read more

eBay gives the world another Groupon

Thursday's CNET Update wants to make a deal:

eBay made headlines Wednesday with a dramatic redesign, but it's not out of the spotlight yet. Today's tech news roundup looks at eBay's Lifestyle Deals, a service similar to Groupon. It's being tested now in a few markets, including New York. Can you handle (or want) another Groupon clone? Is there room in this space for eBay? Share your daily deal experiences and thoughts with us via e-mail or in a 15-second Tout video.

This holiday, Fab expects you to flock to its mobile shopping app. The … Read more