FacePay?

What if buying something was as easy as Liking it? You’d probably buy a lot more, and buy it through whoever made it so damn simple. Becoming that conduit for payments means more than racking up transaction fees. For the portal to purchase influences not just how you buy, but what.

Today, purchases are fragmented, and so too is that influence. We buy online and offline. Cash, Credit, PayPal, and now Apple Pay. In turn, influence splinters into ads run on television, print, digital, billboards, and other channels. Whether we want something already or not, the ads are supposed make us more intent on actually spending our money.

But there’s a disconnect. A gap between the intent and the purchase. A hole in the funnel where conversions leak out. There’s friction.

And Facebook hates friction almost as much as it loves connection. Eliminating unnecessary steps is almost gospel at Facebook, preached from the product all the way up to the person in charge. Mark Zuckerberg wears a grey t-shirt almost every day to remove the friction of deciding how to dress so he focus elsewhere. Facebook split Messenger off into its own app to save you one extra click on the Messages tab.

Facebook explains its goal to speed up ecommerce purchases at F8 2014

Now Facebook has set its sights on making money simple too.

Last month, Facebook introduced payments to Messenger. In any messaging thread, you’ll be able to tap a “$” button, enter how many dollars you want to send, and instantly transfer that money to a friend.

That’s useful, but it’s probably just the start.

With the new Messenger feature, Facebook added an easy way to connect a debit card to your account. Before, it let you connect a credit card, debit card, or PayPal account to buy ads or virtual goods in games. But now Facebook has a mobile-first, zero-fee payments system, complete with passcode protection and a transactions history, all baked into Messenger.

What Facebook does with payments over the next few years could redefine its business.