Facebook Announces Send Money to Friends Feature in Messenger

Facebook wants to be more than just a social network, where billions of people share status updates, photos, videos, and messages through its stand-alone messaging application. Today, the world’s number one social networking company announced a new feature that will soon allow users to send money.

The feature, which rolls out in the United States in the coming months, will be available in Messenger, Facebook’s messaging application. Sending money is easy and free. Yes, apparently the company is making a lot of money from advertising. So, it doesn’t have to charge anything. What Facebook wants to do, however, is to keep its users locked into the platform.

But more than profits, Facebook understands the importance of sending money to other people. Steve Davis, the product manager of the feature, tells TechCrunch that conversations about money happens a lot on Messenger. People chat about sharing the cost of an Uber taxi or splitting dinner bills. Facebook wants its users to finish conversations about money inside Messenger, without using PayPal or other apps.

To send money to a friend, open Messenger and tap the dollar ($) icon below the message area. Enter the amount you want to send and tap the pay button. But you need to add a debit card to send and receive money. While the money is transferred right away, the transaction /4/take one to three business days to finish, depending on the bank.

In matters of security, Facebook said that it will encrypt transactions and payments in addition to layers of hardware and software. Payment systems will be stored in a separate environment and a team of anti-fraud specialists will monitor the activities. Users /4/create a PIN or enable Touch ID on compatible iOS devices. The new feature is based on Facebook’s platform for gamers and advertisers, which launched in 2007. 

Send Money to Friends in Messenger from Facebook on Vimeo.

Today we’re adding a new feature in Messenger that gives people a more convenient and secure way to send or receive money between friends. This feature will be rolling out over the coming months in the US.