I am intrigued by virtual gifting ever since I went to a Social Media conference that was housed with an online dating conference.  Yes, I know an interesting combo!   But as I walked through their solution conference, I found some interesting items!

First, let’s start at the beginning.  Per Wikipedia,   a virtual gift is a picture of an item, instead of the item itself. The item may have a digital social capital value, esthetic or functional value. The item may or may not be paired with an offline equivalent.

This HEX necklace was the first virtual gift that I created for an IBM event….it is a HEX necklace!

Second, people love them!   57 % believe virtual gifting is as meaningful as real life gifting.  WOW!

Third, it drives money. It is about 10% of Facebook’s revenue from the beginning in 2007.    (Couldn’t find any new factoids!)

Fourth, I want to see what you guys think about virtual gifting.  Are you using it?    See below what we created for my team mates below.