Meta has a new payment service called Split Payments, which should at least make you curious, if not interested. It made the announcement on Friday with further news.
“If you’re struggling to split up group dinners, shared household expenses, or even monthly rent, it’s going to get easier. Next week, for Messenger fans in the United States, we are starting to test installment payments, a free and fast way to share the cost of bills & expenses, ”explains the Facebook blog.
To use this new feature, simply click the “Get Started” button in a group chat or the Payment Hub in Messenger. This allows you to split bill evenly or change the contribution amount for each individual, with or without you included. Finally, you can also add a personalized message.
Once your Facebook Pay information is confirmed, your request will be sent & can be viewed in the group’s chat thread. It’s simple enough to be popular, but is it safe?
Other options like Venmo seem to be much better suited for such activities, and with Facebook’s history of data breaches & privacy breaches, some customers may be reluctant to share their financial information with the company.
Additionally, for split payments to be successful, Meta would need to change the way people think about platform. And we’re not talking about changing its name from Facebook to Meta.
We refer to the fact that this is considered mainly as a way to connect with family & friends, not a financial solution. Can people get past Meta’s social influence to actually make use its new feature? Or will other more secure & established platforms like Venmo always lead the way?
