US start-up edō Interactive is using Web 2.0 social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to market its new pre-paid MasterCard, which is targeted at young adults.
The card is currently in beta mode and is being promoted at Web 2.0 destination sites like Facebook, as well as at several concert festivals and on 52 college campuses across the US.
The reloadable 'Facecard' - issued by MetaBank - can be used at ATMs and merchants that accept MasterCard and also works as a peer-to-peer payment system.
In addition, edō Interactive says Facecard works as a gift card, providing retailers with a marketing tool to target "millennials" - people born in the 1980s. Instead of merchant specific gift cards, users receive "prewards" - deposits on their Facecard to be used at retailers - or "edōCash".
Cardholders create and manage profiles online to determine which merchants send them the credit and receive offers via SMS text message and e-mail.
Commenting on the card, Ed Braswell, CEO, edō Interactive, says: "We start with the ability to use one's Facecard MasterCard card at millions of locations worldwide and then combine it with gift cards, prepaid cards and loyalty programmes."