For a while I've been frustrated at how hard it is to sdhare money around the web. Those of you who have endured one of my "light-on-the-facts-high-on-the-fizz" keynotes will know one of my visions for the future of the web is a payment system that allows us to share our money as easily as we currently share photos, text and video.
Sadly, that day isn't here yet, and we're still at the mercy of clumsy credit card systems, iTunes gated spaces and the profit-destroying PayPal options.
However, I was interested in the recent move by Facebook to sell Facebook Credits at Walmart and Target in the USA.
The current targeting of social gamers is validation of the power and growth of that area of online networking. If Facebook are exploring the territory aggressively, you know there must be some value to be found.
What I like most about this move by Facebook is that it has the potential to be applied across multiple platforms and perhaps become the web currency that we've been waiting for. Facebook has a quorum of users to give the scheme momentum, as well as an established marketplace and quite liberal anti-protectionist positioning. This small step of using Facebook Credits in the social gaming sphere with hopefully be used as a test case to iron out problems and collect consumer feedback.
I'm hoping in the coming months Facebook Credits will become a monetary extension of Facebook Connect, allowing anyone and everyone across the net to embed payment systems on their blogs, apps, websites, forums and pages. This will certainly spell out the beginning of a financial revolution as an online economy is born and raising revenue is a simpler task without being at the mercy of closed shops or expensive alternatives.
