Flowers have been added to the list of things passing between the 31 million estimated members of Facebook, a social networking Web site where users create profiles, share photos and send messages.

Florist One, Inc., a florist network based in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y., recently announced a new online venture, Social Flowers, which will facilitate flower-giving between Facebook users. 

After installing the Social Flowers application, Facebook members choose a recipient from their list of friends, pick out and pay for flowers from the Social Flowers site. Social Flowers then e-mails the recipient informing them that someone has sent them flowers and directs them to the Social Flowers Web site where they are asked to provide their address. According to a press release, flowers are "sent from one of 30,000 florists in the network in the U.S. and Canada." In keeping with Facebook's privacy code, senders are not given access to the recipient's address or personal information.

Florist One, Inc., has been around since 1999, according to it's Web site.  It is owned by Michael Perry, who is also the owner and operator of Perry's Florist in Lake Ronkonkoma. It is unclear how many members are in Florist One's "affiliate network." Perry could not be reached for comment.

Currently available only to Facebook members, Social Flowers says in a release that it aims to extend its services to other social networks such as MySpace, Match.com and LinkedIn, among others.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 

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