Mobile Marketing and Commerce Strategies

Facebook users looking for an easier way to pay for and obtain game credits and virtual gifts will be happy with the company’s latest announcement. Powered by Bango, users of Facebook can now pay for goods via carrier billing, meaning they no longer have to use credit cards or SMS.

According to Tech Crunch, the service has been rolled out in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany through Bango, which offers similar services several mobile app markets. Paying for items through their mobile carriers will allow Facebook users to make the purchases with one click, saving time and effort in the process. Facebook first began to introduce mobile carrier billing earlier this summer by combining the Facebook Payments service with a carrier billing option. This latest move is viewed as another way the company is looking to monetize its user base, which will be key for Facebook following its public filing.

Yankee Group Principal Analyst Nick Holland comments

“Clearly Facebook's emphasis must be on mobile if the company is to reclaim public and investor trust after the famously disastrous IPO. Carrier billing via Facebook is just one way in which the company can begin to recalibrate around mobile, enabling payments for the very many Facebook users that are too young or perceived too risky to have access to more traditional payment cards. Hopefully Facebook is in tandem working on improving the overall interface of their mobile presence and enabling more practical uses for payments via Facebook than buying virtual cows.”