Amazon.com Inc. Is Extending Its Gift Cards to Facebook (June 18, 2013)
Amazon.com Inc. is extending its gift cards to Facebook. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant today unveiled Amazon Birthday Gift, enabling users to surprise their friends on Facebook by purchasing a digital gift card that shows up on the recipient’s Facebook Timeline on his birthday. The social media multiplier effect: Any other friend can add funds to the original Amazon birthday gift card, driving up its total amount. Users can launch an Amazon Birthday Gift from Amazon’s site, beginning with a $1, $5, $10 or $25 Amazon.com gift card, adding a birthday message that will appear on a recipient’s Facebook Timeline. Recipients redeem the gift cards on Amazon’s site. Amazon is promoting its birthday gift card with a $3 Amazon.com credit for users for a limited time.
Facebook early this year augmented its brick-and-mortar gifting program with its own branded physical gift card, the Facebook Card, which it has been rolling out gradually nationwide. The card runs on the Discover network and is restricted to participating merchants, including Jamba Juice, Olive Garden, Sephora and Target. Facebook also offers users the opportunity to send Apple iTunes gift cards through its site.
