And this possibility extends to Facebook Facebook gifts that rolled all users in the United States towards the end of the fourth quarter. Of all the products that Facebook unveiled late 2012 - and they were many because the company amped up its efforts to make more money out of its billion plus users - Gift is one of the most anticipated, certainly in terms potential. Facebook, after all, is almost entirely a game announcement, about 85 percent of its sales come from ads, most of which are small display ads that fill the right side of each page Facebook. While the debate on the effectiveness of these ads are raging - there is evidence on both sides - something Wall Street would like to see is what he calls a diversified revenue stream. This is where Facebook Gifts Gifts deployed in stages, starting in September with a handful of offers from more than 100 retail partners, including BabyGap, Brookstone, and Dean & Deluca. The launch in December to all U.S. members is also when he started to let people send wine friends who like a sophisticated addition to the gift range.
The way it works is simple. Facebook, already the world's largest birthday calendar shows you a selection of gifts that you can send to your friends, a birthday or, say, a birthday. The hope, of course, is that you will impulsively send gifts for all occasions -. "In-the-moment gift" that the head of Facebook Gifts Linden Linden called Lee oversees a team that works with each merchant and , using behavioral data on Facebook, decide which products work best.
Since recently launched Gifts widely, Facebook will not break out any finance its payslip. And, of course, the money that day will be low. Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, finally figures it could be a $ 1 billion business for Facebook, but it will take some time, as I said in this room. In the fall, Linden told me that most of the gifts are under $ 40, but that people spend on average around $ 25 for a gift. Facebook takes a cut of each sale, but Linden said it varies with each partner. Facebook Gifts was born acquisition of Karma, a mobile social Linden gift company co-founded and, not surprisingly, he sees all this "in-the-moment gift" becoming a powerful opportunity for mobile Facebook.
Of course, it's still early, but Facebook has had a full quarter in which at least some of its members have been able to send gifts both from their desktops and mobile applications through Facebook. So I hope Zuckerberg or one of his lieutenants get some clues. How many people have sent gifts during the holidays? What kinds of gifts work best? There gifters power? Tell us what is the percentage of people who looked really got a gift send?
The reason this is important - apart from the revenue - is that it is a measure of how Facebook users are comfortable giving the company credit cards. Pachter figures Facebook has 10 million to 15 million cards in issue, but almost all came from people who play Zynga games and buy virtual goods. Gifts if Facebook is doing well, while credit card number is rising, which is essential Facebook should diversify into other areas have credit cards on file can be useful.
And if users are willing to share their credit cards with Facebook, Zuckerberg hope that is willing to share this information with investors later today.
