Facebook

Younger consumers spend much of their time on messaging platforms, creating a risk for retailers that are not active in the channel.

Hoping to convince e-commerce merchants to let Facebook target offers to customers, the social media giant is placing a strong emphasis on “dynamic ads” that include payment buttons.

Despite the best intentions of Apple and Google to ignite contactless, the QR Code persists as a tenacious legacy technology providing the connective tissue between physical and digital domains. Further evidence of its persistence comes from Facebook.

Chatbots have been percolating for a while as the next big channel for commerce and P-to-P payments, and the technology hit a fever pitch last week with a slew of high-profile merchant announcements that suggest the technology has reached a turning point.

Subway, Fresh Direct and The Cheesecake Factory are among the first to use Masterpass-enabled bots on Facebook Messenger to sell their wares over social media.

Facebook is enhancing is transaction technology as payments increase in popularity on messaging apps.

Facebook’s WhatsApp, the Mountain View, Calif.-based messaging app with a broad global following, may be preparing to roll out person-to-person payments, beginning with its app in India.

Banks are unlikely to develop their own social media platforms, but they may have a chance to overtake this market by customizing the smartphone's keyboard app.

Financial services companies such as PayPal, Lydia and RBC are testing chatbots on platforms such as Slack and Facebook Messenger.

As Facebook users increasingly deal with personal and payment data, the social media giant is turning to the Security Keys standard hosted through the Faster Identity Online Alliance for stronger authentication.

In expanding its work with Facebook, American Express has introduced the Add a Card feature on its bot for Facebook Messenger.

The rules can be tricky, but social data can add lots of detail that can help prove identity and reduce fraud.

At this week's Money2020 conference, payment execs like PayPal's Bill Ready say consumers will make purchases in a broad context of shopping, and if merchants aren’t poised to meet their audiences there, they will get left behind, Ready said.