The social media giant is now offering new options to help users to be able to connect more conveniently.

Facebook Messenger may not be the most popular mobile messaging application, but it isn’t all that far behind WhatsApp and it has now introduced additional features, including barcodes comparable to QR codes, which are meant to help people to better communicate with their friends and family members…and businesses and brands.

There usage of the mobile app has never been larger, as 900 million people use it every month.

That data is according to Mark Zuckerberg, himself. These days, people use the social network for a great deal more than just posting food pics and cranking about what has happened to them. It has become a very important business tool. It is specifically for this reason that many of the new features such as QR codes have been added to the application. It will make it much easier for businesses to converse with their customers and for people to investigate and communicate with the brands they like.

Among those features are barcodes similar to QR codes, as well as Messenger Links for faster conversation launching.

The barcodes are actually being called Messenger Codes, although they look just like a redesigned version of a quick response code. On the other hand, the links are just as self-explanatory, as they come in the form of a regular URL that can be tapped in order to begin a conversation over Facebook Messenger. The URLs are designed in the form of m.me/username and are essentially an extension of the traditional vanity URL.

The Messenger Codes appear to be regular QRcodes but that have undergone a facelift. They can be scanned using the camera of a smartphone or tablet and function as a shortcut into a conversation through the mobile app, instead of having to manually enter any identification info.

Zuckerberg described this take on QR codes by saying that “Messenger Codes let you just pull out your phone and scan someone else’s code — it’s the new circular pattern surrounding their profile photo in Messenger settings. Messenger then starts a conversation with them. No more misspelled names or mistyped phone numbers.”

Gemalto and Worldline have teamed to launch a new payment solution to tap into the NFC market

Gemalto, a leading digital security firm, and Worldline, a transaction processing company, have announced the launch of a new mobile payments solution designed to tap into the growing NFC market. The number of NFC-enabled mobile devices has grown significantly over the past few years. With more consumers having access to these devices, new opportunities have emerged in the mobile commerce space. Gemalto and Worldline aim to tap into these new opportunities to find greater degrees of success with their mobile initiatives.

New platform will make use of tokenization technology to make transactions more secure

Worldline will be providing its tokenization service for the new payment solution. Tokenization involves replacing consumer financial information with digital tokens, which can be used to authenticate transactions. These digital tokens are unique every time they are generated, making consumer transactions more secure. Wordline will also be providing identity verification and other such services that will ensure that consumers are protected when they make use of the mobile payments solution.

Study predicts that digital transaction volume with reach $3.6 trillion this year

Juniper Research released study recently showing that the annual transaction volume of online, mobile, and contactless payments will reach $3.6 trillion by the end of this year. This is a 20% increase over the transaction volume that was reported in 2015. New payment services, such as those being launched by Gemalto and Worldline, have increased exposure to mobile payments, which consumers are finding to be quite convenient in their daily shopping habits.

Demand for mobile commerce support is placing pressure on banks

The new payment solution is focused on banks, which have been facing a major increase in the demand for mobile commerce support. These banks want to serve their customers in a more effective way, and with so many becoming reliant on mobile technology, banks are feeling pressure to adapt. These banks currently have a wide variety of mobile payments services that they can support, but they must ensure that these platforms are secure in order to meet the needs of consumers.