NEW YORK — Facebook is getting out of the business of gift card peddling.
You will no longer be prompted with a wrapped-present icon to send your friends a Starbucks or Target gift card on their birthdays — Facebook’s Gifts service is set to be discontinued.
Launched in September 2012, Gifts will no longer be available as of August 12, according to a Re/code report. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Gifts app was already scaled down from allowing users to purchase and send tangible presents, to exclusively e-gift cards activated by digital codes.
The move seems to be in line with a new e-commerce strategy for the social networking giant.
The Gifts news comes just days after the company revealed its new “Buy” button — an embeddable feature similar to the “Like” button that allows users to make purchases from a selection of small businesses partnered with Facebook.
Facebook’s recently revealed second quarter results showed the company’s major growth in mobile. The social network’s experimentation with e-commerce ventures may present another opportunity for engagement with smartphone users — both vendors and shoppers.
