R.I.P. Facebook Gifts

Next month, Facebook will no longer pushily suggest you send your friend (who you probably haven't spoken to in years) a gift on their birthday (that you probably would've missed if not for the always looming social network.) 

If you aren't familiar with Facebook Gifts, here's a quick history lesson:

  • November 2008: Facebook launches virtual gifts 

  • January 2009: Virtual gifts get added to birthday reminders

  • May 2009: Virtual gifts get branded 

  • August 2009: Third-party developers add their own gifts to the virtual store

  • July 2010: Virtual gift store closes

  • May 2012: Facebook acquires Karma, a gifting application

  • September 2012: Facebook launches Gifts service with physical gifts

  • November 2012: Facebook adds iTunes gifts cards to the store 

  • December 2012: All users have access to Facebook Gifts 

  • August 2013: Facebook discontinues gifts service with physical gifts to focus on e-gifts 

  • September 2013: Facebook revamps the gift store

And that's how we got from this:

RELATED: U.K. To Allow Driverless Cars on the Road Next Year

via Facebook 

To this:

via Facebook

But on August 12th, we will have this:

In just a few weeks, Facebook is getting rid of all Gifts entirely — physical, virtual, everything. No more Gifts. Instead, Facebook will be focusing on their new "Buy" button, which allows third-party businesses to sell their products through Facebook posts and advertisements. 

Facebook offered this statement on the change, "We’ll be using everything we learned from Gifts to explore new ways to help businesses and developers drive sales on the Web, on mobile and directly on Facebook." The employees who worked on Facebook Gifts will be moved into other e-commerce projects. 

R.I.P., Facebook Gifts. You made me feel weird about the birthdays of a lot of people I didn't talk to anymore. 

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/technology/2014/07/rip-facebook-gifts/375343/

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