Belgian start-up Paycento has unveiled a platform that lets companies accept payments for digital goods and services through Twitter and Facebook.
Launched in private beta this week, the Paycento platform lets the likes of media companies, news providers and app developers accept micro-payments for digital content through social media.
Customers who create a Paycento account can then link it to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, meaning that when they visit a site using the technology they can pay for content with a single click, in the same way they would hit the 'Share' or 'Tweet' buttons.
Content providers can choose to accept real money, in different currencies, as well as virtual credits.
The start-up's founder Pieter Dubois, a former IBM executive, told Reuters that a major European media firm is beta testing the technology and that he is talking to venture capitalists in a bid to raise EUR5 million.