If we asked you what the last thing you’d want Facebook to have access to was, it’ll probably be your bank account. We have news for you — Facebook has launched its Facebook Pay feature in the US this week, which allows you to… wait for it… send people money via Messenger.

Messenger is the company’s messaging app that is (obviously) integrated with Facebook. Honestly, we’ve never felt the need to send money to anyone using this platform, but obviously someone at Facebook did. The Facebook Pay feature isn’t linked to Facebook’s crypto-wallet Calibra or its currency, Libra. It’s more like Google Pay or Apple Pay — a digital payment method. Not a currency.

Gimme the money

Facebook also plans to roll it out for use in both Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook Pay allows users to add a debit or credit card to Facebook Pay — after which users choose in which apps they’d like to use it. The service will be available on Facebook and Messenger to pay for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments, and selected pages on Facebook Marketplace.

Hopefully, the company realises that it’s going up against digital payment heavy hitters — especially in the Western world. Services like Venmo, Google Pay, and Apple Pay already dominate in this sector, while there are smaller services from the likes of our own FNB, Samsung, Garmin and Fitbit helping to suck the oxygen out of the room. And what with Apple launching an actual credit card… Facebook’s gonna have to build up more user trust for this service to really work.

Luckily South Africans don’t have that problem… yet. We’ll see how Americans react to the service before it even comes to the rest of the world. It will definitely bring the company closer to Mark Zuckerberg‘s vision of marrying all of Facebook‘s apps. But it’s too early to tell if rolling it out across the entire stable is a good idea for the company.

Source: Facebook Blog