Here's what Facebook's Jared Morgenstern, who engineered this project, had to say about the gifts in his Feb. 8 blog post:

Starting today, Facebook will begin enabling users to give each other gifts, tiny tokens of appreciation, that live on your profile. In this collection of gifts on Facebook, all items are $1 each and the net proceeds for the month of February go to the breast cancer research charity, Komen for the Cure.

Facebook was smart to launch the idea with a free hook; almost immediately I had used my free gift and was searching for my credit card to buy more credits. (Each gift costs $1 individually, but when purchased in bulk, discounts are given.) Facebook was even smarter to tie in a charity component, too. I didn't feel like I was wasting money giving my friends digital cupcakes when I knew the money was going to charity this month.

But virtual gifts are hardly new. LiveJournal has allowed users to bestow pixelated magic to one another for more than a year, and Myyearbook.com has so many free "glitter phrases" it's enough to hurt your eyes.

But are virtual gifts a good idea? The Bloggers Blog seems to think gifts that aren't free won't fly.

Are virtual icons really a serious business model when you can easily email images and photos at anytime; place photographs on your blog or profile and use icons during chat and IM sessions? A lot of social networks give you a lot more for free.

I tend to disagree. While I don't think this will be a runaway success, by any means, I do think there is a place for it within social networking, especially as we move into a bigger e-commerce culture. The idea of buying a gift for someone to display on a profile page could be the wave of a future, if they stay at a cheap price. And while can always create some sort of image on their own to "give," I know I'm still impressed that someone paid $1 to give me an Etch-a-Sketch designed by Mac legend Susan Kare.

Now if only I could figure out who is deserving of that blue-haired troll...