Barclays brings banking and social media closer with Twitter Payments
Barclays has become the first British bank to let social media users make payments to individuals and businesses’ Twitter handles using the Pingit app.
Pingit customers will be able to make use of the service from March when it launches on both iOS and Android devices.
The UK’s 13.5 million Twitter users can get on board with the scheme by linking their Twitter and Pingit profiles – allowing payments to be made to the bank accounts of specific Twitter handles. Customers need not be Barclays customers, somewhat extending the scheme's reach.
Darren Foulds, director of Barclays mobile banking and Pingit, said: “We are always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to make people’s lives easier and customer feedback plays a big part in how we chose to further develop our apps.
“Adding the ability to pay people or a small business using just a Twitter handle brings together a social and digital experience to create a new step forward for mobile payments in the UK.”
As Barclays makes social payments easier, it is also adapting to best market its ideas through Twitter.
Barclays interactive marketing director Mark Brayton on Tuesday discussed how the bank's digital team aims to function like a newsroom, delivering content to consumers within three days of conception, during a speech at The Drum’s Digital Convergence conference in London.