Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in his remarks today that the company is introducing a new "payments in chat" feature on Instagram. This new feature will allow users to purchase from small businesses and track their orders through direct messages on Instagram in the United States.
To try the new feature, users can start by sending a direct message to a qualified small business they might want to buy from. On that very same chat thread, they may pay and trace their order further with the business on the product. "Often, users are discussing their order with businesses in those same DMs on Instagram before buying-now they'll be able to pay the seller directly within the Instagram chat thread," the company says. Buying through DMs also provides the user with in-app chat support, Meta says.

According to the announcement post, Zuckerberg said: "You can now buy products from small businesses and track your order in chat on Instagram in the U.S. Pay with Meta Pay and checkout in a few taps.

Meta shared a screenshot indicating that after a buyer decides to buy the product, the seller can build an order request. Following a user's click on the "Pay" button, they will be prompted to add and review their payment information and shipping address. The screenshot also indicates that "your payment will be processed by PayPal.".

Meta states that small businesses in the United States who are not currently using Shops will be able to talk about products, make orders with customer details and receive payments without having to use another app. Should a business intend to create an online store front, they can start using Shops on both Facebook and Instagram.

According to the company, a billion people message a business across its family of apps each week whether chatting with brands, browsing products, or asking for support.

Meta is launching the new feature as the company officially renamed Facebook Pay to Meta Pay last month. As of today, the features and overall experience that people are accustomed to via Facebook Pay remain unchanged across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. To date, Zuckerberg maintained during the rebranding that though the service shall be essentially the same, the rename represents the first step by Meta towards creating a wallet for the metaverse. He continues to say that a digital wallet in the metaverse would be able to securely manage identity, what you own, and how you pay.