Facebook’s peer-to-peer payments feature, which is embedded in the Messenger app, will now be available in New York City and the surrounding areas. On Wednesday, Facebook updated the service with new features, making it easier for friends to send money. Wednesday’s update follows the official announcement about the app in March.
More ease for users
Facebook is also adding more functionalities to make the app even simpler, allowing users to send and receive money between friends in Messenger conversations, the social network told VentureBeat.
In a “message conversation,” a user will find dollar amounts hyperlinked, and if he or she is willing to send the amount to the other person, a tap is all that’s needed. The sender can also confirm the payment before sending it to the receiver. Dollar hyperlinks are the same as the addresses, phone numbers or website URLs hyperlinked to Messenger. Even during a group conversation, payment can be done individually without leaving the group. However, the amount paid during the group conversation can be seen by all group members.
Mobile payments are catching the imagination of Silicon Valley companies, and Messenger payments could help Facebook stand strong against competitors such as PayPal’s Venmo and Snapchat’s service with Square called Snapcash. Nearly 600 million people use Messenger, and half of Facebook’s 1.4 billion users log into the service.
Facebook ramping Messenger app
Facebook’s tweaking of Messenger features is an important part of its strategy. The social network is trying to make Messenger an all-in-one service ranging from sending money to dialing customer support.
Just last month, Facebook came up with a video calling feature enabling users to chat face-to-face over Wi-Fi or cellular networks by simply pressing a video camera icon. This service will be available for Apple devices and those powered by Google’s Android software. According to the social network, its Messenger video is better than those of competitors such as FaceTime from Apple, Hangouts from Google and Skype from Microsoft as it allows users to quickly move from texting to video.
As of now, the payment service is available only to individuals and not businesses, but making it available for commercial use would be the most logical move. However, the social network has negated any such possibility, saying the feature is not designed for “commercial purposes.”
