Facebook to allow users to send money to friends through Messenger

People are silhouetted as they pose with mobile devices in front of a screen projected with a Facebook logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Dado Ruvic

 

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc said it is adding a new feature to its messaging app that allows friends to send and receive money through it.
 
Users can tap or click a dollar icon in a new chat window to send money to their friends, after they link a Visa or MasterCard debit card issued by a U.S. bank to their accounts. (bit.ly/1xvuNDm)
 
The free feature will roll out over the next few months for users in the United States who access Facebook Messenger through desktop computers or Google Inc's Android and Apple Inc's iOS operating systems on mobile devices.
 
Users can create a PIN or enable Touch ID if they have an iPhone to add a level of security to the payments. 
 
Snapchat had launched a similar service last November, called Snapcash.
 
The mobile messaging company partnered with online payments company Square to allow Snapchat users to link their debit cards to their account and quickly send money to a contact by starting a chat on a smartphone.
 
~ Anya George Tharakan    

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More than 3 million teens flee Facebook

This Tuesday, July 16, 2013, photo, shows a sign seen at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday, July 24, 2013.

Facebook (FB) has lost more than 3 million U.S. teenagers in the past three years, according to a new study, adding to fears the social networking site has become uncool with the younger set.

 

The study, by market researcher iStrategy Labs, reviewed Facebook’s social advertising platform and calculated the company had 3 million fewer users aged 13 to 17, a 25% drop, than it did in January 2011. The site lost another 3 million users aged 18 to 24, a group which obviously includes some older teens, representing an 8% decline. Still, thanks to increasing use by older Americans, Facebook’s overall U.S. membership base increased by 33 million, or 23%, to 180 million users over the three years, the study found.

 

That could be the root of the issue — teens don't want to reveal much if they know grandma is watching. And it's easier to avoid adults' prying eyes on less-complicated services such as Twitter (TWTR) or Snapchat, which is rumored to have turned down a $3 billion takeover offer from Facebook last year.

 

The adolescent issue

Facebook's $1 billion purchase of photo posting service Instagram in 2012 was aimed at attracting more younger users. But Facebook has since admitted it might have a problem keeping teens interested. “Our best analysis of youth engagement in the U.S. reveals that usage of Facebook among U.S. teens overall was stable,” CFO David Ebersman said on an October 30 call with analysts. “We did see a decrease in daily users, specifically among younger teens.”

 

The admission caused a minor sell-off in Facebook shares, though they have since recovered. Trading at $57.44 on Thursday, the stock has more than doubled over the past six months.

 

Analysts and advertisers have been split over the significance of the possible teenage user decrease, with some dismissing the teen market as less valuable than that of young adults. But teens eventually grow up and become adults, so a drop in younger users could foreshadow bigger problems in the future.  

Shares of Twitter have climbed 37% since it went public in November, in part on excitement that the short-messaging service was becoming more popular than Facebook with young people.

 

After rejecting Facebook's overtures, Snapchat, a message and photo sharing service that allows its content to disappear, has sought to raise venture capital at a price valuing the company at $4 billion. An initial public offering could follow later this year.

 

Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the iStrategy study.

 

~ Aaron Pressman

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Facebook? What’s that, granddad? Teenagers fall out of love with Zuckerberg's social network

 
Once the darling of the social networking world, it looks as though Facebook is falling out of favor. At least that seems to be the case with teenagers. An extensive and ongoing study into social media finds that huge swathes of 16 to 18 year-olds are abandoning Facebook and jumping ship to the likes of Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. In total, nine different regions are being studied over a course of 15 months.
 
As Professor of Material Culture at University College London, Daniel Miller says, Facebook is now uncool. Mum and Dad are now not only using the social network (which is an immediate nail in the coffin), but actively encouraging their kids to share details about what they're doing: "Parents have worked out how to use the site and see it as a way for the family to remain connected".
 
While the likes of Whatsapp have exploded in popularity none of the alternatives which are attracting younger users offer quite the same set of options as Facebook. Instagram is great for sharing photos, but in terms of organization and interaction, it is found wanting. Snapchat and Twitter have their plus points, but lack a lot of functionality.
 
Which social networks do you align yourself with? Have you found that your preferences have changed over the years or do you stick ruggedly to whichever network you first used? I was something of a lurker on Facebook for a couple of years before becoming fully immersed in it. At 34, I probably fit neatly into the average demographic and I like the network because it offers a nice combination of instant communication and slower, laid-back newsy style.
 
Twitter was more of a slowburner for me. Again, I signed up for an account pretty much as soon as it was possible to do so, and then did little for some time. Twitter bemused me, and I couldn’t see the point. Then I experimented and found that it blended blogging, instant messaging and news delivery in one neat package. I'm now in love. Force me to choose two networks to use and Twitter and Facebook would win without question, but choosing between these two to pick a winner would be hard.
 

~ Mark Wilson

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