Definition
Facebook Credits was a virtual currency that enabled people to purchase items in games and non-gaming applications on the Facebook Platform. One U.S. dollar was the equivalent of 10 Facebook Credits. Facebook Credits were available in 15 currencies including U.S. dollars, pound sterling, euros, and Danish kroner. It was expected that Facebook would eventually expand Credits into a micropayment system open to any Facebook application, whether a game or a media company application. While the Facebook Credits website is still active, Facebook has announced that it is doing away with Facebook Credits in favor of local currency.
Facebook Credits
What is ‘Facebook Credits’
Virtual currency (currency used only on the internet) that can be used to buy goods in online games through the social networking platform, Facebook. Facebook credits can be purchased online using a credit card, PayPal account, mobile phone or other various payment methods, or offline at various retailers. The credits can be used to purchase games or software applications, also referred to as apps.
Explaining ‘Facebook Credits’
Facebook credits can be used to buy intangible goods such as virtual gifts, parcels of virtual real estate, virtual weapons, tools and animals in platform-based video games. As of 2011, this virtual money is backed by real currency that’s available in 15 different countries.
Further Reading
- Some economics of private digital currency – www.nber.org [PDF]
- “I didn't know her, but…”: parasocial mourning of mediated deaths on Facebook RIP pages – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- Social media, gender and the mediatization of war: exploring the German armed forces' visual representation of the Afghanistan operation on Facebook – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- Banking and Fintech: a challenge or opportunity? – www.emerald.com [PDF]
- Social cloud: Cloud computing in social networks – ieeexplore.ieee.org [PDF]
- Interactants and activities on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter: Associations between social media use and social adjustment to college – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
