Facebook’s exploring ways to be more than a social network, and another way they plan on doing it is offering a payment system that will compete with Square. The Financial Times reports Facebook is gearing up to release a system that would compare to Square. Facebook has gained approval in Europe for a service that lets users send money and store money on Facebook.
The new payment options would be an electronic unit of money backed by Facebook, but would translate to real world currency. This isn’t the first time Facebook has dabbled in mobile payments, they have offered Facebook Credits which allowed users to buy apps and games within the social network. The new system would allow the billions of people to send each other money without ever leaving the social networks site. The service could directly compete with Square and other mobile payments systems, and could be a way for Facebook play a part of services they buy without changing anything within them. For explain Facebook could use their new mobile payments within Whatsapp without adding ads to the service, and still make money through the app.
In the coming weeks this service could go live, and replace Facebook Credits. This service would be akin to Google Wallet which Google uses within their sites. Tell us if you would use a Facebook payment service or if you’re using another one?