These days, brick and mortar businesses displaying some kind of signage saying "Like us on Facebook," are nearly as common as those displaying Visa and MasterCard logos. That's worth considering, when you think about using Facebook as a way to pay for goods and services in the physical world.
Of course, Facebook users have developed some trust issues with the site over the years. It would be quite interesting to see if a PayPal-like service from Facebook would be widely adopted. It's one thing to trust a third party with your status updates and photos. It's another to trust them with your money.
Last week, Facebook announced that it is getting rid of Facebook Credits, in favor of real money. Users will start paying for virtual goods using their native currencies. This represents the beginning of users being able to treat their Facebook account like a bank account, or at least like a PayPal account. I'm not sure if Facebook is FDIC insured.
Facebook has not mentioned anything about using currency to pay for things in the physical world but one can simply connect the dots. For one, Facebook has over 900 million users. Many of them carry it around in their pocket all day long. Now, consider that Facebook recently acquired Tagtile, described as "your universal loyalty card," for which you can "visit local stores, tag the Tagtile Cube with your phone, and get rewarded for being an awesome customer."
