Inspired by Pete Cashmore’s column this week on CNN, I started to think about banking and social media, a thought I’ve had several times before but never publicized. One thing is for banks to enter social media with blogs, profiles on Facebook, Twitter, etc, but is it time for them to really enter the social realm and deeply integrate their services with already existing networks like Facebook? I have been waiting for a easy way to pay back my friends after a ski trip, bar round or any other activities that may include shared expenses. Now the usual pattern involves a serious round of gathering receipts, calculating everything in a spreadsheet based on who payed what, who had 3 beers and who had 7, etc. Then you have to email everybody your account number (probably not safe) and the amount they are facing, and they have to log in to their online bank of choice in order to finalize the transaction. It is cumbersome to say the least, there simply has to be a better solution.
What if I could log in to Facebook, select the people that owes me money and enter the total amount, and then the app did the rest from calculating what each recipient was going to be invoiced to wire the money to my bank account when the payment was approved with a oversized and fancy “OK” button? Wouldn’t that make much more sense for small amounts? Yes, you can use Pay Pal or other payment options, but they just isn’t designed for this kind of service, it takes too much time and there are no social elements, yet.
Could Facebook take this role as the worlds biggest social network, and arguably one of the real heavy hitters in the industry, and single-handedly take this wide open position? Should we trust them enough to let them do some of our day to day banking or should we be scared shitless worried that they will abuse this information in order to “build a better service” or just make a few more dollars in revenue because of better targeting of their ads?
In my opinion there is a huge opportunity for the existing banking industry to develop new services based on the existing social infrastructures in order to capitalize on their customer base and standing as a secure place for your hard earned cash, even after the last few years of bonus scandals and bankruptcies. Who will be the first bank to take this move?
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