We all knew this was coming. Facebook was planning about it for years and from a leaked info last October, it was confirmed that sooner or later it was going to happen. Facebook finally made it official where any Facebook messenger user with debit card assigned with a US bank account can send money to his/her friends and families.
The feature will be rolling out in Android, iOS and Desktop in the coming months. For now the service will only be available in US.
Security is the first priority for any users as Facebook already handles more than one million transactions daily on their site. Due to the gamers and advertisers, handling messenger transaction won’t be that much of a problem for them.
Regarding this fact Facebook stated that,
“Incorporating security best practices into our payments business has always been a top priority. We use secure systems that encrypt the connection between you and Facebook as well as your card information when you ask us to store it for you. We use layers of software and hardware protection that meet the highest industry standards. These payment systems are kept in a secured environment that is separate from other parts of the Facebook network and that receive additional monitoring and control. A team of anti-fraud specialists monitor for suspicious purchase activity to help keep accounts safe.”
The whole service is free and Facebook already mentioned how you would be able to utilize the service. If you want to send money:
- Start a message with the friend
- Tap $ icon and type the amount
- Tap Pay, Add debit card to send the money
In case of receiving money:
- Open the conversation
- Add debit card to receive the money
Although the money is sent instantly, it might take two to three days to appear in your bank account. In order to avail the service, you will need a Visa or MasterCard to add to your messenger. Once added a PIN code, a touch ID for iOS users or even another layer of authentication can be set up.
This new feature might help boost the popularity of Messenger. Facebook faced a lot of criticism for forcing their users to use another app just to chat with friends. With this Facebook is showing more functionality to its messaging app. Also if Facebook allows physical good buying in the future with this, then they can have a lot of data to target consumer with personalized data. For now this feature only makes people stay more close to Facebook. As of now, average people of US spends 21 minutes a day in Facebook which is 6% of their time spent online which makes the second most trafficked sites globally and locally behind Google.
Let’s see how much the pattern changes in the upcoming months with this new service!
