Karma, the mobile gift-giving app, has been acquired by Facebook. The announcement came shortly after the markets closed on Facebook's first day as a publicly traded company.

Karma allows users to buy gifts from its catalogue via their mobile phones. The app is already integrated with Facebook and draws on the social network's profiles to notify users of friends' birthdays and anniversaries.

The move continues Facebook's push to enhance its mobile offerings, where it currently generates less revenue per user than it does on the desktop.

Eugene Kaznacheev, product manager for shopping cart provider, Ecwid, says: “There are estimates that the social commerce market will be worth up to $50 billion in the next eight years and undoubtedly Facebook is positioned to be the main beneficiary.

"With this in mind it is a logical step that Facebook is trying to position itself as more than just a social networking platform. Facebook’s acquisition of Karma is a further indication that it has serious aspirations to become a commerce platform.

"Certainly we have already seen a positive trend from businesses selling through Facebook. Our own figures have shown that those e-commerce businesses that also have Facebook stores saw a 17.7 per cent increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2012.”

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