Making gifting easier

Mark Gibbs' Web site tips, plus network applications news headlines

Here we are once again, in the season of giving and getting and so our thoughts turn to visions of sugar plum fairies and e-commerce.

Now, if you needed yet more proof that the ‘Net changes everything just consider the changes it has made in gift giving. The focus of this newsletter, Gimme! from Socialwise, is not just a new shopping opportunity but rather a way to enable collaborative gift giving.

Actually Gimme!, which works with Facebook, is just the first of a suite of gift giving applications designed for social networks – the company plans to roll out other applications for MySpace, etc.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Here we are once again, in the season of giving and getting and so our thoughts turn to visions of sugar plum fairies and e-commerce.

Now, if you needed yet more proof that the ‘Net changes everything just consider the changes it has made in gift giving. The focus of this newsletter, Gimme! from Socialwise, is not just a new shopping opportunity but rather a way to enable collaborative gift giving.

Actually Gimme!, which works with Facebook, is just the first of a suite of gift giving applications designed for social networks – the company plans to roll out other applications for MySpace, etc.

The idea is simple: A group of Facebook users want to, say, buy a birthday present for one of their friends (not necessarily even a member). They all “install” the application and then can contribute to a gift card from one of the supported retailers (which currently includes AMC Theaters, Applebees’s, Banana Republic, Borders, The Gap, iTunes, and Macy’s) or add funds to Socialwise’s soon to be launched pre-paid debit card.

Users can also start a gift card for themselves and invite others to contribute (sounds rather tacky but what do I know?).

Socialwise also offers another online shopping service for children with the frightening name of BillMyParents.

Here the idea is that rather than giving your child access to your credit card (something that fills many parents with horror), you establish a BillMyParents account. Your child can then purchase goods and services on any participating site. To actually complete the purchase you are notified and then can approve (or decline) the purchase which is then billed to your credit card.

How does Socialwise make money? By taking a slice of the action. They charge users fees for each transactions, for example, a BillMyParents purchase costs the parent 50 cents. I suspect there are also fees to be made from the retailers they have relationships with.

Socialwise is looking for developers building social networking applications who want to use novel payment mechanisms to monetize their products and services.

This is an interesting approach not only to enabling near frictionless online purchasing for both groups and the scions of individuals, but also in the collaborative marketing and branding that is tied up with the service.

It’s a shame that Socialwise hasn’t managed to make their debit card available for this holiday season given that where the economy will be by this time next year is anyone’s guess, but then again, if they can enable huge numbers of small transactions they may well be in a good position to weather whatever the economy throws at us.

Read more about software in Network World's Software section.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.