Social gifting

Better than discounts, presumably, is free. That’s what the Swedish company Wrapp is hoping for. It rolled out a service today that allows users to give free gift cards to their friends through Facebook. So far the company has partnered with 25 U.S. retailers to try the experiment that it started in Sweden last year.

All Things D explains how it works:

Using Facebook and a mobile application, people can give their Facebook friends free gift cards, commonly valued at $5 to $15.
A notification saying that they’ve received a gift card is posted to that friend’s wall, where anyone can see it and contribute more money if they wish.
The person, who received the gift card, can then redeem it using a mobile application in the store.

Of course there’s a catch. At least this one is pretty straightforward: you give up your personal, Facebook details in return for the gift card. If you think about it though, at least you’re getting paid. Most other apps just take that info and do who-knows-what with it.