One of Facebook's first money-making systems is to be closed down next month.

The virtual gift shop, which allows friends to pay for various graphical elements and send them to others, will be axed on August 1.

Facebook will instead concentrate on 'core' features such as the news feed, photos, wall, messaging inbox, comments and games.

The feature was introduced in 2007 and has been a nice little profit generator for the social network.

Users will now need to turn to third party applications if they still want to send virtual gifts to one another.