Facebook Fail Friday: The End of Facebook Gifts

Facebook is killing off the Facebook Gifts feature and will close its Gift Shop on August 1st, 2010. While gifts have been the subject of plenty of mockery (and rightfully so, they’re only virtual!), the given reason is pretty lame and that’s exactly why we call FAIL on them:
We made the decision after careful thought about where we need to focus our product development efforts. We’ll be able to focus more on improving and enhancing products and features that people use every day, such as Photos, News Feed, Inbox, games, comments, the “Like” button and the Wall.
It’s hard to believe that a company like Facebook does not have enough manpower to manage a simple feature like this, which is by the way a multi-million dollar revenue stream. Who says no to easy money? They’ve also proven to be a great marketing tool for the promotion of movies, cars, and other products.
The little virtual goods won’t disappear altogether though…
The gifts you’ve already received on your Wall will remain visible, and you still will be able to view your sent and received gifts on your gifts page.
You have until the end of the month to eternalize a gift on your wall. Check the related articles below for some free ones. And your existing gift credits, if any, are automatically converted to Facebook Credits.
As an alternative, they recommend using one of the many third-party gift applications for giving and receiving gifts (eg. Birthday Cards, Hallmark Social Calendar, Pieces of Flair and someecards).
PS: I know it’s not Friday. I blame it all on the heatwave.