Facebook Credit is the New Paypal. PayPal and Facebook Credits Will Play Nice After All. Long imagined to be a potentially significant threat to PayPal, the Facebook Credits payment platform will actually work with its once theoretical rival, according to a post on Facebook's blog announcing a strategic partnership between the two companies. Under the deal, PayPal will become a payment option for purchasing Facebook Credits, which are still in use only sparingly in certain apps and games. Considering the burgeoning size of the micropayments business model — especially via transactions inside social games — the Facebook Credits platform could eventually be a huge revenue driver for the massive social network. The news reveals that Facebook's agenda is not to disintermediate or eclipse PayPal, and that likewise PayPal doesn't perceive the Facebook Credits initiative as a direct competitor.
We think it's a good move on the part of both companies, in that working together could be more lucrative for each site than trying to battle head-to-head. PayPal Becomes A Facebook Credits Payment Provider. This afternoon Facebook announced a partnership with PayPal in which users can now pay for their Facebook Credits using the payment provider. Since rumors first began about the expansion of Facebook Credits, many assumed that it would eventually become a direct competitor to PayPal.
Today’s announcement suggests that this is not the case. Instead, Facebook will continue to integrate Facebook Credits into their platform, making it a payment provider for virtual goods. So next time you check out at your favorite e-commerce provider, don’t expect to check out with Facebook Credits. Building a world class payment solution clearly has its challenges (fraud, etc), which makes this a natural partnership.
With PayPal founder Peter Thiel on the board of Facebook, one can only imagine that the company thought long and hard about the best payment strategy. Below are screenshots (which are currently drafts) of the new integration. FacePal: How Facebook Could Rival PayPal. For a long time, Facebook was a walled garden, not allowing Facebook data to be used or shared on other websites. Last year however, that all changed with the launch of Facebook Connect. Since then, hundreds of websites have adopted the platform to allow users to log in via Facebook and to share information such as their social graph or their location.
Facebook continues to advocate and advance the platform, most recently by launching Facebook Connect for the iPhone. Facebook Connect has massive reach, and Facebook has yet to monetize it. Understanding a Facebook Virtual Currency Virtual currency is nothing new to Facebook - the Facebook app Acebucks has been around for a long time now. By buying the currency through Facebook, the need for multiple credit card transactions in applications vanishes. Facebook Connect's Role However, a Facebook virtual currency could go far beyond the confines of the website. The Paypal Vision Realized Thiel had grand ambitions for the company. Paiement sur Facebook : c'est fait pour Paypal.