Social Gifting: The Reasons Why This Is The Buzzword [Infographic]

If I had to choose one phrase that has been the buzzword in social media for the past 17 days of 2013, I would have to say it’s “social gifting.” There is such a flurry of activity swirling around it, and it reminds me of a few years ago when everyone started talking about Groupon. Only time will tell if social gifting is here to stay, or if it will be yesterday’s news soon. At the moment, it looks to be something that people really like, so could this really be the future of gift giving?

Just yesterday there a very popular article on TechCrunch about the social gifting app called Wrapp. They hit one million users within 14 months, which is a huge accomplishment. Last month, Mashable announced that Amazon had teamed up with Facebook to launch a social gifting feature. So what is it with this social gifting craze and what exactly are the reasons behind it?

First of all, simply put, social gifting is a way for retailers to finally monetize social media. Almost every type of business from iPhone apps to restaurants have found a way to make social media beneficial, but until now, retailers haven’t seen the return. Other than using social media for brand recognition and as a customer service tool, there hasn’t been much benefit. Social gifting will change all that.

Another reason social gifting seems to work so well is because our gifting needs are changing. This could be another perfect example of being at the right place at the right time which is yielding a very successful concept. Our needs are changing, which has opened up an opportunity – and retailers combined with social media are right there with the solution.

I thought this infographic by CountMeIn called For Me? You Shouldn’t Have. Really. illustrates well how our gifting in general is morphing, and how social gifting works in a nutshell. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. According to the TechCrunch article, one of the main reasons why Wrapp is so successful is because people know they aren’t a scam. Establishing trust is critical when you’re combining people’s money and social media. One misstep in that area could be catastrophic. I’m excited to see how social gifting evolves throughout the rest of 2013.