Although when we talk about instant messaging and Meta we usually do it with WhatsApp, we must not forget that Facebook Messenger is also part of the company’s catalog and, more importantly, that It is the second most used instant messaging application for smarphone in the world. Only from behind, you can imagine, from WhatsApp. According to data from October this year, Facebook Messenger has a whopping 1.3 billion active users. compared to the 2,000 million WhatsApp.
Thus, and although during the last year it seems that efforts have been concentrated mainly on WhatsApp, today we have news of a new function that will begin to be tested shortly in the second service of the company, and that is the one integrated into its social network. And it is that, as we can read in its official blog, from next week Facebook Messenger will start testing shared payments. This first phase of the tests will be carried out with US users, but it is hoped that it will soon be extended to other geographies, at least after the tests are completed.
In Meta they are also very intelligent, since in order to use this function, it will be necessary that all the people who want to participate in the common payment, form part of a group of Facebook Messenger. Obviously it will be possible to create a group ad hoc for this purpose, but it is also more than likely that these groups will become employed by the people who have participated in the group payment to communicate with each other, thus increasing the numbers of both the service itself and, by proximity, also Facebook .
As we can read in that post, at least during the testing phase this function will be free, that is, Meta will not receive any commission from the payments made by users. And I would be surprised if this changes in the future, since in this case users could opt for many other services that also have this function for free. No, in my opinion, this is a move, a smart move, to attract more users to Facebook Messenger. And, I add at this point, young users.
With this function, a user will be able to select the total amount to pay and then divide it among the group participants (either in equal parts or with personalized amounts for each), write a personalized message and finally send it to each participant of the payment. And how will the payments be made to the organizer? Obviously through Facebook Pay, another service that can grow in users and activity if this function becomes popular.
In this way, the organizer will be able to receive the money from the rest of the participants in their account and then make the full payment. Or, of course, advance the payment and later, with more peace of mind, claim the payment of the same … although in those cases neither Facebook Messenger nor Facebook Pay or anything, except the reliability of your contacts, guarantees that you will get your money back in time and form. But, this time at least, that’s not something we can blame on Meta.
