PayPal is aiming its peer-to-peer Facebook app, SendMoney, not only to Facebook users who want to send money to each other, but to those who want to drop an e-card in, too. According to a recent study from Pew, 64 percent of online adults use social media to stay in touch with family. Grandma can send her Facebook-addicted granddaugther a birthday card along with a nice chunk of change. Dad can pass along a nice “have fun on me” $50 to his college-aged son after the lad finishes a hard week of finals.
PayPal and Facebook want to bring together the world’s biggest social network, and the world’s largest online payments company – and e-cards may be the bridge to making that happen.
It fits into a trend we’ve seen recently of retailers are adding e-gift card options. Then there are apps like Apple’s Cards, which lets users create a real, physical cards from their iPhones by taking a photo on your camera, then choosing from 21 designs. Postagram turns Instagrams into postcards for only $0.99 a pop. Both of these give users the opportunity to make e-cards into paper cards. Even Selena Gomez jumped on this trend with an investment in Postcard on the Run, an app of the same persuasion which lets users turn photos from their iOS and Android devices into mailable postcards.
