Facebook first got into the mobile payments game two months ago, but the roll out has so far been pretty slow, available in only select parts of the US. Today the feature becomes available in New York City (and surrounding areas).
It’s also now a bit easier to make payments. For instance, cash amounts will be highlighted in chats; click on it and you’ll be taken straight to a payments screen.
Facebook’s also made it easier to pay people from a group chat on the desktop: you can now pay individual friends without having to leave the conversation. Others in the chat will be able to see who paid whom, and how much.
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That feature could be useful for organizing split payments, as most other transaction platforms only allow interaction between two users.
Given the popularity of other payments systems in New York City – Venmo in particular – it’s somewhat surprising it took the feature so long to arrive. Still, Facebook could take advantage of Messenger’s ubiquitousness and group capabilities to gain some ground on more established transaction apps.
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