Now you can poke someone and donate to charity at the same time.
Facebook announced today that they are adding a new pilot feature to Gifts that lets you give a donation to various nonprofit groups, including the American Red Cross, the Boys & Girls Club of America, Oxfam America, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and Water.org.
Launched in September, Facebook Gifts allows some users of the social network to pick out an actual gift and have it be shipped directly to their friends. The feature is not available to everyone yet, but CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg briefly touched upon how the company plans to make money off of it during a conference call to investors last week.
The announcement comes on the heels of Hurricane Sandy, which struck and caused destruction across the United States East Coast on Monday. In the blog post announcing the new pilot program, Facebook acknowledged that the decision was partially influenced by the natural disaster.
“We are especially pleased to be launching this test now – when so many people are looking for new ways to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, or assist those most in need around the holidays.”
Facebook also stated that they’re planning on expanding the list of charitable organizations that people can donate to.
The move could be a public relations win for the company, which has seen a spew of negative press in recent months.
Photo via FutUndBeidl/Flickr