Facebook has announced a new feature that will allow users to split payments between friends. The feature, which is currently available in the Facebook Messenger app, will allow users to send money to each other without having to use a third-party payment service like Venmo. The new feature is part of Facebook’s efforts to compete with other social media platforms like Twitter and Snapchat, which have also introduced similar features in recent months. Facebook has been trying to increase its user base by introducing new features that appeal to its existing users as well as attracting new ones. The split payments feature is likely to be popular among Facebook users who frequently use the messaging app to pay each other for things like coffee or dinner. It will also be useful for small businesses who want to accept payments from their customers through Facebook. ..
“If you’ve struggled with dividing up (and getting paid back for) group dinners, shared household expenses, or even the monthly rent, it’s about to get easier. Next week for Messenger fans in the US, we’re starting to test Split Payments, a free and fast way to share the cost of bills and expenses,” says The Messenger Team in a blog post.
Messenger has offered the option to pay people for some time, as Facebook Pay launched in 2019, but the new feature lets you make a group chat and request money from many people towards a total. It can divide the payments evenly or request a certain amount from each person.
Facebook will start testing the Split Payments feature the week of December 6, 2021, in the US. When it’s available to you, you’ll need to click the “Get Started” in a group chat or under the Facebook Pay section of the app. From there, you can choose a dollar amount and whether you want to split it evenly (with or without yourself) or select specific amounts for each person.
It sounds useful enough, but getting a group of people to set up their payment details through Messenger so you can use this feature sounds like more of a headache than it’s worth. Most people are already using Cash App, Apple Cash, Venmo, or some other payment app, and getting them to use a new one just because it has a unique feature is unlikely to happen.
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