Plink has launched a Facebook Credits-based loyalty program that rewards Facebook members for dining and making purchases at their favorite restaurants and offline retailers.

"Facebook Credits is the missing ingredient that's been needed to connect social media to offline sales," said Peter Vogel, co-founder of Plink. "Now with the 'glue' of Facebook Credits our national restaurant and offline retailer partners have a way to tap into the nearly 800 million users on Facebook, motivate them to become loyal customers, and reward them."

Plink is a new company on Glenbrook's radar screen. For more information, see www.plink.com.

Citi announced a social rewards app for Facebook: the Citi ThankYou Point Sharing App.

This new Facebook app makes it quick and easy for ThankYou Rewards members who are Facebook friends to pool their points together, and use their points’ collective value towards a shared goal or reward. ThankYou members on Facebook can combine their points to make a charitable donation, or choose from millions of rewards on www.thankyou.com, from travel to electronics.

On the web:

• French Bank and Carrier Team Up to Bring Mobile Payments to Market - NFC World
• Telefonica Digital and RIM Announce NFC payments Market Trial in Spain - FierceMobileContent
• 3G Direct Pay Ltd (Kenya) to Integrate M-Pesa and Airtel Money - businessdailyafrica.com
• Starbucks Launches Mobile Payments App in UK and Ireland - Marketing Magazine
• Google Engineer Shares 2012 Plans for Google Wallet - American Banker
• Orange expands Money services in Africa - Rethink Wireless
• Visa and Retailers Discuss Chip Migration - NACS Online
• Australian Taxis Now Take China UnionPay - People's Daily Online
• EU Weighs Need For Mobile Payment Rules To Attract Industry Investment - Bloomberg

On the wires:

• Top Card Issuer Takes Online Resources’ Collections Global
• Ink from Chase Enhances Rewards Program for Small Business Cardholders
• Facebook Adds SafetyPay as New Global Payment Option for Facebook Credits
• Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) Offers Skrill World Post

On the web:

• Dwolla Says It Wants to Compete With Credit Card Networks - ABC News
• Blink and It s Gone: Chase Drops Contactless Brand from Cards - American Banker
• Facebook Makes More Global Payment Methods Available to Buy Facebook Credits - ZDNet
• Swedish Operators to Form Mobile Payments Joint Venture - Mobile Europe
• Remote Deposit Capture: If You Expand It, Will Fraud Come? - Portals and Rails
• 28 Indicted in Theft of Credit Card Data at Steakhouses - NYTimes.com
• Lockbox: Still Crazy After All These Years - Celent Banking Blog

On the wires:

• U.S. Bank Customers Get Mobile Remote Deposit and Mobile P2P Payments
• Jollibee Launches Its Online Payment Service with AsiaPay (Philippines)
• Payair Rolls Out US Mobile Payment Services

Inside Facebook, GigaOM, and other media outlets are reporting that Facebook has launched a closed, limited test of "Facebook Credits for Websites" which would allow third-party websites to accept Facebook Credits as a payment method. From Facebook's developer blog…

We have begun working with a few developers to test the ability to offer Facebook Credits on websites, with the goal of helping them offer a more unified app experience to users beyond apps on Facebook.

On the web:

• Facebook Caves To Apple On Mobile Payments on iOS - BusinessInsider
• Square Processing $2B In Payments Per Year, Has Signed Up 800K Merchants - TechCrunch
• eBay to Unveil Commerce Identity at X.Commerce Innovate DevCon - AuctionBytes
• Create Card-Free Rewards Programs with Apps - Entrepreneur.com
• ZipPay To Launch New Mobile Payments Service Cheaper Than Square - TechCrunch
• MasterCard To Equip Subway Restaurants For Mobile Payments - WSJ.com

On the wires:

• Merchant Warehouse Announces Best Practices for Small Businesses Affected by Recent Revisions to Interchange Fee
• VirtualPiggy Now Available to Merchants on eBay’s Magento Platform
• First Open Source In-app Payment Library for Android OS by SmsCoin Project

On the web:

• How Payment Professionals Should Think About Facebook Credits - Dave Birch Blog
• Bank of America to Add Debit Card Fees - Michael Finney's Consumer Blog
• Amazon to Collect California Sales Tax by January 2013 - WSJ.com
• How New Payment Options (Lay-a-Ways) Can Drive Revenue - Harvard Business Review Blog
• Ryanair 'Cash Passport' Prepaid Card to Carry Hefty Charges - This is Money
• Tabbedout Expands Nationally to More Bars and Restaurants - Austin Business Journal

On the wires:

• Visa Europe Says Foreign Consumer Spending Tops €14.4bn
• CRE Secure Launches New Shopping Cart Platform – Loaded Commerce 6.5
• epay Signs Long-Term Prepaid Processing Agreement for Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile USA and Assurance Wireless
• An international bank selects Earthport to enhance pension payment services
• eLayaway's Technology Aims to Help the Economy
• Xpress Money Launches their Instant Money Transfer Service in Canada

On the web:

• Visa, MasterCard to Raise Small-Purchase Fees, Analyst Speculates - Bloomberg
• Mobile Payments 'Very Unimportant' to Consumers - American Banker
• Intuit’s Payments Team Says Mobile Card Readers Will Die - VentureBeat
• Distra and Cisco Plug Payments Gap - iTWire

On the wires:

• Payvment Announces New Social Commerce Features at Facebook’s f8 Developer Conference
• Silver Tail Systems Receives Strategic Investment From Citi Ventures
• Earthport Adopts International Payments Framework Association Standards
• Citi’s Global Transaction Services Launches CitiConnect
• Ceridian Stored Value Solutions (SVS) Launches B2B Gift Card Portal
• Netop Powers Live Guide with Aria Systems' Subscription Billing Platform

eMarketer has released projections on Facebook's worldwide revenue over the coming years. Most of the focus is on ad-derived revenue, but they are also projecting $470 million in Facebook Credits revenue for the company in 2011. (This means eMarketer is projecting $1.56 billion in Facebook Credits TPV this year. - Ed)

On the web:

• The Ritz London Installs China UnionPay Terminals - AsiaTravelTips
• UK Mobile Payments JV Hits Rocks Before It’s Started: Three Appeals To EU - mocoNews

On the wires:

• Visa Europe France Announces Strasbourg’s Contactless Payments Pilot
• Facebook Commerce Evolves with New Version of Payvment
• US Airways Adopts NCR Mobile Boarding Pass Solution
• Western Union Expands Network: Money Transfer Services now also available at over 30,000 ATMs in Europe and Asia
• Skrill (ne Moneybookers) Announces Acquisition of Payolution

On the web:

• Facebook Said to Be in Talks to Bring Credits to Mobile Browsers - Bloomberg
• eBay and PayPal Open Registration to Developer Program Conference - eCommerceBytes
• Transit Kiosks at MoMA - Art That Begs to Be Touched - NYTimes.com
• Man Sentenced to Death for Fake Money Scam - chinadaily.com

On the wires:

• Ceridian Stored Value Solutions (SVS) and Twitpay Offer Innovative Social Commerce Solution
• New Mercator Report on Merchant Acquiring Industry and the Mobile Opportunity
• Neural Technologies Implements Solution for Mobile Payments Fraud Management in Africa
• eMerchantPay Launches the eComm Module to Streamline Payment Processing for Online Retailers in UK
• FiServ Business Online, formerly eCorp, Delivers Advanced Functionality for Corporate and Small Business Banking

On the web:

• Finally, a Facebook Credit Card Connection to Really Like (Thanks American Express) - NetBanker
• Interview with Card.io Co-founder Mike Mettler re Card Image Scanning - MyBankTracker.com
• 20 Silicon Valley Startups To Watch: SwipeGood - Business Insider
• 3 Mobile Cash Registers - Inc. Magazine

On the wires:

• J.P. Morgan Treasury Services to Provide Enhanced FX and Cross-Border Payment Capabilities to Fundtech’s PAYplus USA Clients
• NCR and Scopus Tecnologia Sign Agreement to Accelerate Growth in Brazil

American Express has launched a new Facebook app called "Link, Like, Love" that delivers cardmember deals and experiences based on the likes, interests and social connections of cardmembers and their Facebook friends."

Starting today, on the American Express Facebook page, cardmembers can link their cards to the program and choose their favorite deals; American Express will send statement credits to cardmembers’ accounts as they shop online or in stores, without the need to pre-purchase anything, print out or show a coupon at the point of sale. In the coming months, American Express will also deliver Membership Rewards® points offers, entertainment access, exclusive content and special events through the application, all based on a cardmember’s Facebook social graph.

American Express also unveil a “Go Social” offer tool for small businesses to distribute coupon-less, location-based cardmember offers in Facebook Places and other digital platforms.

Revo Payments has announced the (beta) release of the first Facebook Payment Applications for a number of vertical markets including Property Management, Education, Non-Profits, and B2B.

The Revo (PAAGO) Facebook Apps enable Facebook users to pay: Tuition, Donations, Rent, Homeowner Dues, and business invoices within Facebook. Payors can elect to pay by credit card, eCheck, ACH, Paypal, or Facebook Credits. Facebook users (Payors) benefit from the ability to make payments without leaving Facebook, while using any payment type.

On the web:

• Using Facebook Credits as Ecommerce Sales Incentives - AuctionBytes
• PSECU's Remote Deposit Honor System - NetBanker
• 18 Fun Facts About Credit Cards - MSN Money
• 10 Reasons I'm Cancelling My Credit Cards - SmartMoney.com
• California Replacing Unemployment Checks with Debit Cards - Bakersfield.com
• Korean Govt To Credit Card Firms: We’re Watching You - Wall Street Journal
• Tapjoy Scores $30M to Boost Mobile App Monetization - FierceMobileContent
• Blaming the Fed’s Durbin Rule, Tempo Payments Prepares to Shut Down - Digital Transactions

On the wires:

• Spendvision’s new eMoney Module Enables Businesses to Track and Manage NFC Transactions
• Regions Bank Introduces Personal Pay to Send and Receive Electronic, P2P Payments
• CoVantage Credit Union Selects Tyfone to Deliver Next Generation Mobile Wallet Services
• U.S. Bank and Monitise Americas Introduce Free Mobile Banking Service for ReliaCard Visa Cardholders

On the web:

• Visa CEO: Bulk Of Durbin Impact On Profits Comes In Fiscal 2012 - Forbes
• As Plastic Reigns, the Treasury Slows Its Printing Presses - New York Times
• With Top Banks In Tow, Financial Service Provider Yodlee Hits 30 Million Users - TechCrunch
• Facebook’s Virtual Currency Draws Antitrust Complaints From Consumer Advocates - The Washington Post

On the wires:

• MOBIbucks Secures $5 Million in Series A Financing
• Facebook Tweaks Terms for Using Its Virtual Money After Antitrust Complaint
• Diners Club and Russian Standard Bank Partner to Form New Franchise in Russia
• Wawa and Wright Express Team Up to Offer Proprietary and Universal Card Program

On the web:

• Zynga Explains Method For Recording Real Revenue From Virtual Goods - Wall Street Journal
• Speed Bumps on the Road to Virtual Cash - New York Times
• New Starbucks Mobile-Pay App Adds Facebook Link for Gifting - American Banker
• Handicapping the Mobile Payments Battle - Mobile Commerce Daily
• China Telecom Opens Mobile Payment Function For 3G Users In Beijing - ChinaTechNews.com
• Alipay Invades China's High Streets, with Mobile Barcode Payments - Penn Olson
• PayMate launches 'WayPay', 1st Mobile Cashless Management Service - MSN India
• VeriFone to Unveil Tablet Credit-Card Reader This Year to Take On Square - Bloomberg
• Users Can Now Buy Facebook Credits in 32 New Currencies, Including Chinese Yuan - Inside Facebook

On the wires:

• 99Bill Enters into Strategic Agreements with Eight Major Banks in China
• Plimus Debuts Online GoGuides to Accelerate Seller and Affiliate Sales Success
• TCF Requests Dismissal of Lawsuit Challenging Durbin Amendment
• Regions Bank Completes Purchase of $1 Billion Credit Card Portfolio
• Western Union Expands Cash Payment Option to More Than 60 Countries for AdSense Publishers

American Express announced today that Cardmembers will now be able to pay for Facebook Ads using Membership Rewards points.

American Express’ industry-leading Membership Rewards program is a featured benefit used by millions of American Express small business and consumer Cardmembers. Facebook is the most popular social media site for small business owners, and Facebook’s advertising platform reaches more than 500 million people globally. With the addition of Membership Rewards points as a payment option, business owners now have a powerful new way to build their businesses through the rapidly growing area of social media advertising.

On the web:

• How Wal-Mart Swiped JPMorgan in $16 Billion Debit-Card Lobbying Battle - Bloomberg
• PayPal Retires Money Market Fund - AuctionBytes
• BillMyParents.com Traffic Spikes to 600,000 Unique Visitors - NetBanker
• Symantec: Android and iOS differ widely on security - Rethink Wireless
• Accel Puts $34 Million In Online Payments Platform Braintree - TechCrunch
• Appeals Court Upholds Denial in Debit Fee Case - Forbes.com
• Zong Calls for Lower Operator Revenue Shares - GSMA Mobile Business Briefing
• Group files FTC complaint over Facebook Credits - MarketWatch
• Credit Card Problems Abroad - Readers Respond - NYTimes.com

On the wires:

• Dynamics Inc. Raises $35 Million in Series B Funding
• PayCommerce Announces Processor-Agnostic Gateway Services for ISOs
• ReadSoft Enters into Global e-Invoicing Partnership with OB10
• Zuora Adds Support Four Leading Payment Gateways

On the web:

• Facebook Adds New Payment Options for Facebook Credits - Inside Social Games
• Court Favors Customer over Bank in ACH Fraud Suit - Bank Info Security
• Mobile payments: Who needs NFC anyway? - Computerworld
• Cheques Set to be Given a Reprieve in UK - Business Matters
• American Express to help retailers drive loyalty, sales via social deals - Mobile Commerce Daily

On the wires:

• eWise and Affirmative Technologies Partner to Accelerate the Adoption of Secure Vault Payments
• mFoundry Passes 400 Customer Milestone

On the wires:

• MasterCard Partnership with BP / Aral brings Contactless Technology to Forecourts
• New Juniper Research Report on NFC Mobile Payments
• Vindicia Adds Heatwave Interactive and Idea Fabrik as Online Game Clients
• eWise Secures $14 Million in Financing Led by Wellington Partners

On the web:

• CSnews: MurPay 'Pay-by-Text' Taking Off for Murphy Oil USA
• POS News: The Disintermediation of the Point of Sale Industry
• Bank Info Security: Legal Ruling Favors Bank over Business on ACH Fraud
• TechCrunch: Paygr Combines Facebook And PayPal in a Marketplace for Local Buying And Selling

On the wires:

• VeriFone to Acquire South Africa Payments Solutions Provider
• Parkmobile and Liberty PlugIns Debut Pay by Phone Electric Vehicle Charging
• Telemundo Branded Gift Cards to Launch at Retail This Month via InComm
• New Aite Group Report on the Future of Merchant Acquiring

On the web:

• TechCrunch: WePay Adds Event Ticketing To Hassle-Free Group Payments Platform
• AllThingsD: Alipay Gets Its License to Operate in China
• PayPal Blog: PayPal Is Now a Payout Option for Developers Redeeming Facebrook Credits
• MIT Technology Review: What Bitcoin Is, and Why It Matters

Billeo has announced an iPad-based, browser shopping service being previewed at FinovateSpring 2011. The new service, called ShopSmart, "helps Billeo's partners optimize rewards and loyalty programs by layering offers directly into people's search results to alert shoppers when a relevant discount is available. The app also connects shoppers with their Facebook friends, allowing financial institutions to become part of the vibrant online conversations already happening around shopping and daily deals."

On the wires:

• Ogone Brings Ethoca's Advanced Anti-Fraud Screening to 28,000 Merchants in Europe
• Mobey Forum Membership Increases as Industry Gets Serious About Mobile Payments
• Comviva Leads in Mobile Money and Recharge Solutions Across Growth Markets, With 92 Deployments Globally

On the web:

• ReadWriteWeb: Humble Barcode Scanning Could End Up Changing Your World
• AMEinfo.com: OneCard Enables its Users New Option to Buy Facebook Credits Directly
• NFC World: Turkcell launches commercial NFC payments with Yapi Kredi Bank (Turkey)
• Mobile Marketing Watch: 3 Reasons Mobile Payments Might Not Be Ready
• AllThingsD: Visa Says Mobile Payments Unveiling is Coming (This) Week
• telecoms.com: European Banks Issue Guidelines for NFC payments
• Wall Street Journal: Italy Telecom Operators Launch Joint Digital Payment Platform
• NYDailynews.com: Paper Purchase Receipts are Fast Fading from Daily Use
• Portals and Rails: United Front Needed to Prevent EMV Card Fraud from Picking Low-hanging Fruit

On the wires:

• Bremer Bank Selects Memento Enterprise Platform for Detecting and Managing Cross Channel Fraud Threats
• Experian and Symantec Collaborate to Protect Online Services with Best-in-Class Identity Proofing and Authentication Technology
• Regulatory Strategies Publishes Detailed Guide for Europe, US, Canada to Precedents and Best Practices for Sharing Data to Stop Ecommerce Fraud

On the web:

• TechCrunch: PayPal Buys Mobile Payments Startup Fig Card
• Chicago Tribune: Facebook Credits to be Used for Real World Goods
• StorefrontBacktalk: Visa Talks Up Canadian EMV E-Commerce Trials
• TechCrunch: PapayaMobile Raises $18 Million (Android In-App Payments)
• NetBanker: Full FinovateSpring 2011 Demo Lineup Revealed

On the wires:

• TNS Unveils New TNSPay Capabilities
• Telcel Mexico Selects Vesta Corporation to Launch New Recharge Functionality
• Shift4 Brings a Higher Standard of Payment Processing to Microsoft Dynamics RMS Users

On the web:

• Portals and Rails: Dispelling the Myths about Mobile Banking and Payments
• VentureBeat: Why does NFC matter? Does tap beat swipe for mobile payments?
• Bloomberg: AT&T, Verizon Wireless to Open Venture to All Payment Networks
• All Facebook: Forrester Says Facebook Commerce Won’t Take Off
• Mobile Commerce Daily: Survey Says Majority of Smartphone Users have Bought Physical Goods via Mobile

On the wires:

• Wells Fargo Patient Payment Solution Increases Collections, Cuts Costs for Healthcare Providers
• MoneyGram International and Societe Generale Expand Partnership
• Zuora Enables Informatica to Launch Pay-as-You-Go Cloud Data Integration Service on AppExchange

On the web:

• SmartMoney: Credit Card Declined? Blame Your Bank
• Lifehacker: Are Credit Card Surcharges Out Of Control in Australia?
• StrategyEye: Zynga Challenges Facebook With Its Own zCoins Virtual Currency
• Bloomberg: Lawmakers Readying Bills to Delay Debit-Card `Swipe' Fee Caps
• People's Daily Online: China launches its first network credit rating system
• PayPal Blog: Survey: Merchants Seeing 18% Lift with PayPal
• Bloomberg: Google Is Said to Ready Test of NFC Payment System in New York, San Francisco

Inside Facebook has an interesting post on Warner Brothers accepting Facebook Credits as form of payment for movie rentals.

Today Warner Brothers announced that it will begin renting movies to users through Facebook applications, starting with The Dark Knight. By allowing users to pay for digital content, not just virtual goods, with its virtual currency Facebook Credits, Facebook is moving in a bold new direction that encroaches on the territory of iTunes and NetFlix.

On the wires:

• Moneris Solutions Adds ThreatMetrix Device Identification Capabilities to Its Online Merchant Fraud Protection
• HID Global Delivers First Gift Card Issuance Project to Major Retailers in Korea
• Multiband, InterceptEFT Announce Partnership for Customer Payment Processing
• Radiant Systems Launches Additional Security Services to Help Restaurant and Retail Operators Protect Consumer Data

On the web:

• MSNBC: The Death of the Magnetic Stripe Credit Card (EMV story)
• New York Times: Debit Card Fees Bring Lobbyists to Capitol Hill
• Gov Info Security: EMV Roots Go Deep in Europe (Interview)
• Inside Facebook: Facebook Helps Sell Digital Media with Credits: Challenges and Opportunities
• ReadWriteWeb: NFC in 2011: Who's Building Your Mobile Wallet?

On the wires:

• Discover and InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions Announce Prepaid Issuing Agreement
• Fiserv Signs IBERIABANK for Turn-Key Debit Solution
• Pay-O-Matic Renews Contract with Prepaid Processor FSV Payment Systems
• CashEdge Signs Deal With Huntington to Provide Popmoney P2P Payments
• New Mercator Report on Prepaid BIN Sponsorship Opportunities for Financial Institutions

On the web:

• CreditCards.com: Credit Cards Magnetic Stripes Get Smarter
• Wall Street Journal: American Express Teams Up With Foursquare
• Inside Facebook: Facebook Credits GetBalance API Helps Developers Dynamically Price Virtual Goods
• TechCrunch: Why Payments Are Hard, Even For Apple And Google
• Wall Street Journal: Banks Look to Replace Lost Debit-Card Fees
• Portals and Rails: Moving to Chip-and-Pin: The Price of Foresight versus the Cost of Hindsight