How to Create a Gift App on Facebook

Gift Apps are some of the most popular applications available on the Facebook social networking site. Gift Apps allow Facebook users to send digital "gifts" from a gallery of images to other friends on Facebook.

As social networking websites become more common, and programs become more user friendly, the new trend is user-created apps. Now, any common user can create a personalized app for their friends to use, without a deep background in html or computer programming. Creating your own Gift App on Facebook is easy, quick, and a unique way to entertain your friends and network. If you app becomes popular, other users outside your network can also participate.

Using gift apps, Facebook users can send and receive digital flowers, kisses, Muppets, dancing penguins, chocolates, sexy digital slaves or any of hundreds of funny, sweet, or mean digital images.

First, log in to your Facebook account. Access any of the thousands of gift apps by clicking "Send a Gift" or "More Gifts." Review all the available gift apps to make sure you are not duplicating one that already exists. Or, pick an existing gift app which you feel was poorly made and make an improved one with better gift images.

Click the link for "Make Your Own Gift App!" It will ask you to allow access to your profile "information." You must click allow for the application to work. Basically, the application needs the right to publish blurbs on your profile and news feeds to send and receive the digital gift images.

Next, title your Gift App and write a brief description so users will know what kinds of images can be sent and received on Facebook. You will have to check a tab if your app will include any alcohol related content. This way, Facebook can disallow underage users from using the app. Remember, applications on Facebook cannot promote any illegal activity, like marijuana or drug use. They may also not contain any pornographic images, sexual images, obscene or libelous images, or any images which infringe on third party rights.

After accepting the terms of the "Make a Gift App" application, you are able to upload your own digital images. Use small images for the fastest upload. However, if you are unable to resize images due to a lack of photo editing software, the application will automatically resize larger photos and images for you.

Gift apps operate similar to games in that the first five or 10 images are available for first-time users to send and receive. Other images are reserved as gifts to be "unlocked" by users who have sent and received more gifts. Decide which gifts will be allowed to all users immediately. These are the first images you upload and will be the gifts most accessed on your application.

For a successful Gift App, use popular images which will encourage casual users to add your application. Then save a few cool gifts which must be "unlocked" to encourage users to keep working toward them. Putting all your cool gifts on the free list may leave users bored after they have sent them a few times and have no reason to unlock better images.

You can also access your app later to add more gifts and change things up. This is a great way to keep the gift app from getting stale. Remember, that to stay legal you cannot "infringe on any third party rights." You must own the copyright to the images you upload, just like anywhere else on the web.

When you have uploaded the amount of images you need for your Gift App, click on complete application. You will reach a screen with instruction for install the Facebook Developer App. Open a new browser window, install the Facebook Developer App, then complete the set up. You will receive an API Key and a Secret (both are long strings of numbers and letters) which you will need to copy and paste into the appropriate boxes to verify your humanity and allow your new Gift App to work.

Get creative and you can have lots of fun with personalized Facebook Gift Apps. Upload mug shots of your friends so you can trade each other around. Upload photos of your favorite hangout spots or food items. Sky is the limit.