Remittance service linked to Facebook targets US-based Pinoys

Sending prepaid load abroad is nothing new for overseas Filipino workers (OFW), but now they can do it with Facebook. An innovative new service tests the economic possibilities of social media. Recently-launched SocialTopUps allows US-based customers to send mobile phone credits to prepaid phone numbers in the Philippines via Facebook. Mobile subscribers in India and Mexico can also avail of the service. Close integration via Facebook Connect Available for Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular prepaid subscribers, the service uses Facebook Connect to link with your profile. After you type in the recipient's name and cellphone number (they don't need to have a Facebook account), you can choose to send any denomination from P60 to P500, depending on the recipient's network. After paying the amount (plus a minimal transaction fee), SocialTopUps can post the transaction details on your and your recipient's Facebook walls. SocialTopUps's close integration with Facebook Connect also facilitates transactions by allowing customers to search through their Friends list, displaying the profile picture and mobile number (if publicly available) of people who match the search query. 'Top ups' are nothing new, but-- Wireless realtime transmissions of prepaid load (or "top ups") are nothing new, but SocialTopUp's integration with social media is a novel approach. The Philippines' two biggest telcos, Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, already offer similar functionality through their own rival mobile banking services, Smart Money and GCash. Both are microfinancing systems that seek to provide financial services to the low-income clients who also comprise the main customer base for prepaid phone products. These mobile banking systems offer more diverse payment and remittance options than SocialTopUps, but lack social media integration to the extent that SocialTopUps claims to offer. Possibilities for the future Although SocialTopUps only offers one-way transactions for now, it's not a far stretch of the imagination to think that the system can be tweaked to allow real-world currency to be converted into other forms of online currency and back again, in a kind of virtual monetary ecosystem. Such online currencies could be used to purchase a variety of online goods and services, as is currently being done with Facebook Credits. At the very least, SocialTopUps' business model shows that it's possible to make money out of a mashup of social media and mobile telecommunications. In a country that boasts the eighth largest population of Facebook users and the world's biggest consumption of SMS, that's definitely no small change. - GMANews.TV