Venmo

If you have ever been out with friends and decided to split the bill you've more than likely used Venmo. Venmo is a mobile payment service owned by PayPal. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app but both the sender and receiver have to live in the U.S. Venmo handled $12 billion in transactions in the first quarter of 2018. Users create an account via the mobile app or website and provide basic and bank account information. All you have to do to add other people to your friends list on the app is know their phone number, username or email. 

 

Venmo encourages social interactions on the application through comments using jokes, emojis and likes. When a user makes a transaction the details (not including payment amount) are shared on the user's news feed and to the user's network of friends. Venmo includes three social feeds: a public feed, a friends feed and a private feed. All Venmo transactions are shared publicly but you can change the privacy settings so only your contacts can see your posts or is kept completely private. 

As I was writing this blog my friend and I used Venmo to split a pizza. The app has become such a popular payment tool that people use it to split rent and pay bills. I know anytime I have plans to spend an evening out with friends one of us will utter the phrase, "Just Venmo me."