Since this will be my only post before Christmas let me start by saying Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
The time of year has me thinking about the one thing most of us have on our minds at Christmas . . . gifts. It’s hard to think of Christmas and not arrive to the images of presents in your mind. Now before you start to think this is just another blog about the consumerization of Christmas, it’s not. It’s really about gifts, virtual gifts.
Christmas Past:
There was a time where virtual gifts were crude clipart images geeks could send to pretty girls on dating sites for a fee, in hopes for some sort of response that they couldn’t possibly achieve with that splash of Aqua Velva they wore to the Christmas Party. I think this sordid past is a part of the reason why virtual gifts have not yet gained mass appeal, which brings me too . . .
Christmas Present:
Facebook has popularized the giving of virtual gifts and now other major websites are following suit in hopes to monetize this trend (or fad) in social networking. Do people receive the same satisfaction out of receiving a virtual gift as they do a real one?
I don’t know what the statistics are but if I were to sum it up into a word, it would be: no. I would way rather get a big screen television for Christmas than a digital icon of one. I don’t think virtual gifts replace real ones but they do have a place and function in our lives, and the 60 million odd gifts to be rumored to have already been exchanged on Facebook confirms this.
These gifts seem to have gained popularity through commemorating specific events that people want to share with each other, or by simply including a color we know someone might like, or may appeal to someone else’s obsession with cute kittens. These virtual gifts seem to find relevance in being an external representation of something internal shared by the people exchanging them. In this way they seem to stop being virtual and gain some real value to the people sharing them. It’s either that or they both like to giggle at pink bunnies. My point is I don’t think most of us are sending random virtual gifts to random people at random times. They have some sort of relevance, no matter how insignificant.
They can make someone feel special, like you are thinking about them, or sharing a moment together. They can also annoy, and feel like spam in an over-crowded inbox.
I don’t think any website has truly explored the potential of virtual gifts. There must be some way to create, share and distribute them that is beyond the obvious.
Christmas Future:
In the short term, I believe social networking sites will capitalize on the distribution of virtual gifts, but in the long term it will be up to these sites to find new ways to make virtual gifting relevant. E-cards will never replace Greeting Cards. Virtual gifts will never replace real ones. But they both have a place on the web that is still being defined.
I wonder what Santa would do . . .
