In the December issue of Wired magazine, the editors test-drove a new gift recommendation service, GiveEmThis.com, that uses your Facebook account to find the perfect gifts for your friends. They got gift recommendations for celebrity "friends", but I decided to test it using myself. After all, I'm the best judge of what I'd like to get, right?
Now, since I've only been on Facebook a year, and primarily use it to 1. Show off pictures of cakes I've made, and 2. Tell other people I like the cakes they've made, I wasn't sure how successful GiveEmThis.com would be at seeing into my covetous soul. Not half-bad, it turns out! Or rather, only half-bad...
Dead-On I would love to own all of these: Silpat Silicone Baking Liner, Nigella Express (though I'd rather have Feast or Kitchen, Norpro 3168 Donut Maker, Swimming: Steps To Success, Donvier 837409W 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker, and the Quakehold 3000 Survival Kit (to make my dad rest easier).
Way-Off Please do not send me any of the following items, care-of Apartment Therapy: Football Positions from Hephaestus Books, Judaism for Dummies, a sterling silver "Lotus Bead Yoga Charm", a novelty apron with a picture of a donkey that says "Ass-Kickin' Chef", $20 "peach and light green" earrings, The Complete Bar/Bat Mitzvah Planner, Mitzvah And Mourning, tequila and margarita salt & pepper shakers, and a Quiet Air Hockey set that promises it "muffles the normal clacking noise of air hockey pucks". But then how do you know how hard you're winning?!
Overall, this service seems pretty unnecessary. Anyone who's spent five minutes with me in real-life or on Facebook knows I like swimming, donuts, Nigella, and yoga, and the suggested gifts in those categories weren't too creative. I also have no idea why GiveEmThis thinks I'm Jewish. My favorite suggestion was probably the Silpats: a practical luxury.
Have you ever used a gift recommendation service? How well did it work for you? I think the best way to use one would be to print out your friends' recommendations- the hilariously off-base ones- and give them in lieu of cards. (Just a note: I disconnected GiveEmThis from my Facebook account immediately after this experiment, because I'm cautious that way. You may want to do the same.)
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There is something similar to this on Etsy, but it recommends much better items!
It recommended that I buy my fiancee an extension cord. And nothing else.
@ the Bicoastal Scientist: Your comment made me laugh so hard.
Oh, and it recommended I buy a portable toilet, many books on hiking (which I hate), and a sports nose guard. My interests are triathlon, cooking, and decorating. I think this service needs some serious work before it becomes useful in any way.
Oh, I forgot to mention the Thanksgiving "gobble gobble" dangly earrings.
Wow. I tried it on myself, and it recommended some religious philosophy books(?), terrible jewelry charms, and porn???? And because I'm an artist, several how to draw comics books. Really? PLEASE nobody buy me anything based on that site. Please.
enough hiking books to last a lifetime and a walking stick - zzzzzzzz
if someone gave me the walking stick i could use it to hit them
the best was a ballerina treasure music box - the kind you give to a 5 year old girl - ???? no even when I was 5 thank you
but that was fun
@ curlsz maybe they get some kind of special commission on hiking goods.
Or maybe it's a play on how misguided they are in recommending gifts. Get it?
Oh my Lord. I used to live in Turkey so it recommended books about the hajj and Ramadan. I also used to work at a golf course so it recommended a putting game and golf ball cufflinks.
It may not be right, but it is entertaining.
I'm afraid of what this service would come up with...Facebook itself regularly directs gay advertisements my way even though I do not openly share that information on facebook...it's obnoxious at times, no I do not have HIV Facebook, I can only imagine how awkward/embarrassing it would be if I were trying to keep my orientation a secret and someone saw some of these advertisements over my shoulder of if Giveemthis started suggesting all sorts of gay themed gifts to my friends...
This thread is cracking me up! I'll have to try it on myself and see what pops up!
I think mother-in-laws and estranged grandmothers of the world are behind this gift site.
Super funny. Salt and a soccer jersey and green beans.
Weird.
@ the Bicoastal Scientist: so good. I think that's what you should get him.
Mine said I would want a sterling silver pot leaf charm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently I want a noodle storage cart (for swimming pool noodles.... why?!!) and a set of 100 white 2 5/8" boxes for displaying jewelry.
I'm also not sure why it thinks I want a football-shaped music box that plays the University of Michigan fight song. But whatever.
This site thinks I'm a Satanist??!!!
I have have my Donvier Ice Cream Maker for several years and we LOVE it. No need for Ice or salt and it makes great ice cream, sherbets and sorbets. Wouldn't give mine up for anything.
Hilarious! Apparently I'm a baseball-loving male with a cufflink fetish who's a pious Jew AND a pious Muslim who also: eats bacon.
Although that Season 1-7 of "Peep Show" was dead on.
Mine were for the most part dead on. I do like halloween and horror films. I'm only in my 20s though so all the stuff about being a senior citizen seems bizarre.
My friends and I had fun making fun of some of the suggestions. Black liberated male book for my white female friend...and skinny B*tch for my admittedly over weight male friend..
There's also hiking, hunting and exercise equipment for everyone.
I don't think you should worry much Dempsern. It's hard to take some of these seriously.
So funny. I would've gotten Red Sox charm bracelet (not a baseball fan), a saint & baby name pendant (not religious, don't have a baby), and a book about motorcycles/choppers (not a fan).
The problem with the dozens of apps that do this is that they are based on machine algorithms. Sometimes they get things right, but most often they don't. This is why we're seeing the emergence of social algorithms and the Curated Web. Your friends and product enthusiasts are much more likely to recommend something relevant than some machine. A great gifting app that is based on social gift recommendations is Givvy. Check it out!
Oh my gosh, these are all so hilarious. Thanks for playing along, everyone!
aw! Everyone got me so excited but since I'm not on facebook (out of principle. Go ahead, try to get me to join. try it.) it wont let me try it out of my (real) friends who are on facebook.
Sigh, guess I'll just have to steal my husband's log-in again.
This is so funny! I think all the posts encouraging me as I fight cancer have led the program to think I'm suicidal -- a sad therapy light and a book about the 6 steps to fighting depression.
Also, when you click "disconnect from Facebook" they say that they're sorry to see you go with a James Blunt video. I do love Wired.
So hilarious! I did myself and got a caterpillar costume (?!?!) and a necklace with a charm that looks like a box of baking soda... LOL!!!
Ah, Donvier! I bought one 25 years ago so our children could have homemade ice cream. We had tons of fun with it. After years of storage in the over-the-fridge-cabinet, the black hole of every home, I pulled it out and had a blast making frozen yogurt. Rock on Donvier.
It suggests people buy me books on Stockholm Syndrome, a history of death and dying, a history of cemeteries in America, hockey tape, sports bobble heads (I hate sports), and the game Mousetrap. What?!
My fiance never posts anything more interesting than "Happy Thanksgiving!" and yet it has him pegged perfectly and suggests everything on his list: an iphone, a new flatscreen TV, a black rain jacket, and a messenger bag. He's also very indecisive and somehow it knows to suggest The executive decision maker for the indecisive. How does it know!?
Gift-giving is impossibleeeeee.... site seems cool, we also love TheGiftInsider.com.