Facebook has launched a payment service which will let you pay your friends via Facebook Messenger. The service will be absolutely free. You will be able to connect your VISA or Mastercard debit card with your Facebook account and press “$’ sign which will appear in the Facebook Messenger app. Once you press this button, you can enter the amount and press send in the chat with your friend to who you want to send money. That’s it. The money will be wired.
Facebook has launched this service in an effort to tackle payments behemoth PayPal. Twitter also launched a payment service in partnership with Barclay’s Bank. Facebook wants to make sure that it leaves no domain untapped in the contemporary tech world.
Facebook already processes over 1 million payments daily for its ads and games business. These payments are done via PayPal. SnapChat also signed a deal with Square Cash payment service for its SnapCash payment service. Google Wallet, Venmo are some other competitors Facebook want to compete.
Giving a payments feature in Facebook Messenger app is a smart move by Facebook. People mostly don’t want to open new apps and service for a single task. Just pressing the $ sign and sending money to a friend will be preferred by Facebook users. Security and authentication will be a key factor in the success of Facebook payments service.
Facebook’s plans for its payment service were leaked in some hacked images a few months back. The service is now officially announced.
Facebook payment feature will be rolled out in the US in the coming months. PayPal also issued a statement and said that it has strong working relationships with Facebook and both companies will keep working on joint endeavors in the future as well.