13% would bank through Facebook
In a pretty unscientific poll conducted through Facebook’s own polling mechanism, which 500 people responded to (responding is voluntary, so the numbers expressing an interest may not be indicative of true demand across an accurate cross-section of Facebookers), data from the 2008 Online Banking Report, reblogged by the NetBanker team, shows that 13% of respondents would bank through Facebook!
Young adults were significantly more favourable to the idea - 18% of 18-to-24 year-olds expressed an interest, which is a similar level to the youngest age cohort assuming the floaters (6%) could be convinced. Adults, on the other hand, don’t see Facebook displacing your high-street branch just yet: just 4-5% of those age 24+ liked the sound of “FaceBank”.
The results are mixed news for Facebook, which is rumoured to be working on a financial platform for fb. A lot of marketing is thrown at 18-24 year olds, often on campus, as banks look to kick off lifelong partnerships, enticing impoverished students with attractive overdrafts. These results show that at least some trust Facebook on a par with the traditional players. So it’s encouraging that Facebook’s key demographic is the most receptive to financial elements being introduced to Facebook.
Personally I really wouldn’t favour Facebook banking - certainly not if they’re the bank (imagine the data they’d have access to if, in addition to mapping your social circle, it could also follow your spending habits and geography through bank statements!), but probably not even as intermediaries. But with financial info from their users, they would be an extraordinarily attractive acquisiton target for Google, with access to a uniquely powerful dataset which Google has so far failed to get remotely close to as Google Checkout flounders. Going back to my skepticism: I generally remain unconvinced by current evidence of the value of ’social finance’ or “Finance 2.0″ services such as the Wesabe Value Engine and other such fairly gimmicky novelties - but this is a space I’m willing to be very open minded on. Something big might yet come up; I’ve got more than a few halfbaked ideas for the sector, that’s for sure.
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