FACEBOOK

You Can Send Money To Your Friends Through Facebook Messenger Now

Facebook Messenger now lets you send payments to your friends-exactly as you would with Venmo or Paypal. Except it's way easier, because just about EVERYONE already has Facebook.

The new functionality is built directly into the Facebook Messenger app. The only thing you need to do to pay your roommate for bills, rent, or dinner is add your debit card to your account. Then you just send the money. The new service is rolling out to iOS, Android, and the web "in the coming months" starting today, according to Facebook.

So does this spell doom for services like Venmo? Maybe! Just like those existing apps, this new feature provides another way for you to send money to people you know-but it does so in a way that's far more seamless, since you can easily find your Facebook friends. My experience is the perfect example: It's pretty amazing that I already have 238 friends on Venmo, but I have close to 900 on Facebook. Joining another service just to send payments is a layer of friction that Facebook just made unnecessary.

I'm not saying Venmo is going to die tomorrow, since it's built up a solid user base. But don't be surprised if you find yourself sending a payment on Facebook Messenger sometime soon.