Happy Holidays
Retail stores are scrambling to sell stuff.
No surprise. But here is a first-ever: gift cards.
Wait ... that's not new either.
Oh, I got it ... how about gift cards that you can buy for people that play Facebook games?
By now we've become comfortable with social networks, and have heard of social network gaming — games like FarmVille, CafeWorld, FrontierVille, Mafia Wars ... the list goes on and on; often flooding one's Facebook news stream with updates and requests about how many cows and chickens your friend needs to make bank.
Not cool.
The real news is that brick-and-mortar stores are adding Facebook-credit gift cards to the inventory.
Facebook credits are much like tokens one would pay to play in an arcade. The credits are virtual currency, purchased with real cash, or by swiping VISA or MasterCard-tagged plastic.
The cards can be gifted to friends and family, and are used within the Facebook realm.
According to an article on Mashable.com, "Target will be the first retailer to sell Facebook Credits in its stores." Beginning, Sunday, Sept. 5, the gift cards will be similar to purchasing Apple's iTunes cards, and is "a significant move."
Facebook Credits will be available in $15, $25 and $50 price sets, and other stores will soon pick them up.
For more info, see Facebook's help page on the topic:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=837
On a closing note, click that "x" to the right of those game updates to permanently remove them from your stream.
You're going to need it.
