Facebook is adding a new feature to its messaging component that will let users send money to their Facebook Messenger friends free of charge. (It’s exactly like Snapchat’s Snapcash feature.) To send money, users just add a debit card and easily send cash money to friends through Messenger with the $ icon and amount. This feature will be the beginning stages of the social network giant stepping into mobile commerce.
Image credit: Facebook
Facebook will be using the same secure payment process as it has been with game and advertising purchases which, according to the company, is already over one million daily transactions. “A team of anti-fraud specialists monitor for suspicious purchase activity to help keep accounts safe,” Facebook stated in its blog announcement. The feature is first going to roll out in the U.S. and will be available on iOS, Android and desktop.
The difference from Facebook’s peer-to-peer money transferring option is obviously the amount of users already within its network when compared to PayPal, Venmo and Snapchat. Facebook’s Q4 earnings report from 2014 showed 1.19 billion mobile monthly active users and half a billion users on Messenger. Last summer, Facebook began testing “Buy” buttons within sponsored ads where users could make purchases without leaving the app or site. The new feature would remove the step of entering payment information to make a purchase. Thus, consumers have less time to back out on their purchase.
Using Messenger to entice 500 million users to store their payment information within Facebook is a great move to help the company ease into the mobile commerce game and make a shit ton of more money.
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