Facebook gifts adds iTunes cards to the fold

It's time to give your best buddy Chris Kringle the gift of iTunes music on Facebook – straight through the social network's own gift-giving portal. This update brings Facebook Gifts up to a very real existence once again, reminding us that you're able to not just give your friends a bunch of digital stickers, but real-world physical gifts like cookies and ice cream. What better way to tell your buddy you love them than with digital cash given through your favorite social network?

Some Facebook gifts are as odd as a pair of chopsticks while others are as fabulous as a jar of cookies – literally. Most of the items given away by people working with Facebook Gifts are simple and small – fitting in perfectly with the iTunes Gift Card way of giving. It's the perfect "everyone wants one of these" gifts. And from Apple's perspective, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

When Apple sells an iTunes Gift Card to a user who owns an iPhone, they download a collection of music tracks and have extra cash left over – better spend just a little bit more to get that last app! If they sell an iTunes Gift Card to a person giving that card to someone who only has a desktop machine, they need iTunes to use it. They'll also feel inclined to purchase an Apple device on which they can play the music or movie they purchase – this media doesn't go anywhere else.

With Facebook being a newly more integral part of the iOS experience, it's only fitting that Apple would continue to add its services and connections in with Facebook for all. Now we've got to decide if it feels too impersonal to get a gift card without actually getting the plastic. Such is the intricacy of holiday gift giving!