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PayPal lets friends send money on Facebook
The combination of online payments and social media has hit a turning point. Online payment giant, PayPal, has released a “Send Money” application on Facebook that allows friends to send each other money.
“We are bringing the largest online payments company to the world’s largest social network to make it even easier to send money to your friends and family directly from Facebook,” said PayPal’s senior product marketing manager JB Coutinho in a blog post.
“Our new Send Money application on Facebook allows users to turn those wall posts into actual gifts,” she said.
The app gives people the choice to send money with an eCard or just money with no card. You select a card, choose a friend to send it to and then select how much money to send. You can also send a video recording with the money or a picture.
“The PayPal and Facebook infrastructure have now merged,” said PayPal’s Anuj Nayar to technology blog Mashable. “This is another way to personalise the act of giving money.”
PayPal charges no fee for people to send money to other Facebook users in the United States as long as transactions are done through accounts with banks or the eBay-owned online financial service.
“PayPal is going to where friends and family connect now,” Coutinho said of the reasoning behind the application. “Imagine the smile when someone gets money for a cold beer and a message saying ‘This one is on me.'”
“According to Facebook, about 50% of its 750-million users log onto the social media network daily and average about 130 friends. And, the Greeting Card Association estimates that Americans send 500-million e-cards annually.”
This app has the potential to take off with so many people using social networks as a way to communicate with each other. Friends and families who live away from each other can quickly use Facebook to send a birthday card with some cash included.
PayPal has effectively made life easier for tech-savvy grandparents who would otherwise have to post the birthday card with cash in it.
