Is Facebook Messenger Going to Offer Payment Feature to Its Users?

When Facebook rolled out its dedicated Messenger app a few months ago, there were plenty of users who were hesitant in using the service.  In fact, they were pretty curious as to why Facebook needed to create a new app while its in-app chat served as a faster way to communicate with friends.  But because Facebook had plans of its own, they made it impossible for mobile users to reply to their friends on their app.  As a result, users were forced to download the Messenger app just so they could stay connected with their friends.

Just recently, an iOS developer Andre Aude, discovered that a modified version of the Facebook Messenger app now allows its users to make person-to-person payments.  Apart from this, there are other elements that have been integrated onto the app.  If you owe a friend some money, you can easily send him a payment on the Facebook Messenger app.  By integrating a payment system onto the chat window, the action is just as easily done as sending him a message or a photo.  You can see a history of your payments on the settings pages.

As of this writing, Facebook has not yet confirmed that the feature will be available to everyone.  But considering the fact that this was formerly hinted by creator Mark Zuckerberg, it would seem like they are currently testing out the feature.

Without an official confirmation from Facebook, many are speculating that the social networking site will monetize from this feature.  It seems like the most logical explanation would be making a small commission for every transaction their users make on their platform.  But considering the free cross-person payments offered by its competition, this doesn’t seem like a wise idea for Facebook.

Considering that mobile users are still expressing their frustration about having to use two different apps on their device for the same service, this new feature won’t do much to change their views.  Especially if Facebook does decide to make a commission out of every transaction, users just might not like the idea.  Eventually, it might end up like Facebook Gifts—a feature everybody thought was cool but nobody actually used.

But until an official word about this payment feature is provided by Facebook, users will just have to hang on to their opinions.

Source: 9to5 Mac