Facebook is experimenting with Zong to extend its credit purchasing power to the mobile platform.

The credits can be used to buy goods, like gifts, on the popular social networking site. Facebook already has an extended reach on the mobile platform with a new iPhone application launching last week.

?Just this week we saw Facebook launch a significant upgrade to their iPhone app, and the mobile platform is clearly going to be an important anchor for social communication,? said Frank Barbieri, CEO of Transpera, San Francisco. ?With the addition of an easy-to-use payment platform, they can extend that relationship into social commerce.?

Transpera is a mobile video delivery and advertising network that provides a platform to monetize videos on mobile phones.

Facebook is an online social networking site with mobile capabilities.

Zong and its parent company Echovox, are mobile media monetization providers. Zong operates without credit cards; the company just uses the mobile number and lets consumers buy things by adding them to their wireless bill.

The new Facebook iPhone application was redesigned to resemble the iPhone user interface. A new feature allows users to click anywhere on the top of the screen to go back to the main page. Users can also save shortcuts.

The new application opens the doors for third-party creators to generate Facebook applications for the social networking site?s iPhone application.

In the Apple App Store, Facebook is currently ranked the No. 8 most popular application.

Ten Facebook credits can be bought for $1. Besides the Facebook Gift Shop, credits can be used in several applications like Birthday Calendar, (Lil) Green Patch, MouseHunt and PackRat. Currently, Facebook users can only pay for credits with debit or credit cards on the Web site.

Mr. Barbieri said mobile payments are essential for Facebook?s growth.

?It?s also important as Facebook finds more of its growth internationally and in developing markets, where credit cards are not as highly penetrated as in the United States. A mobile payments platform is a natural for those populations.?

Expanded virtual currency purchasing to the mobile platform would allow more of Facebook?s users ? especially international ones ? to buy credits.

?As a firm believer in the role of mobile in people?s lives, I think mobile is a great platform for any payment processing,? Mr. Barbieri said. ?The frictionless ease of paying with a phone number versus a 16 digit credit card number translates into much higher conversion levels.?

?We?ve seen with Amazon and iTunes how much having a trusted, friction free billing relationship can convert to increased sales and basket sizes,? he said. ?Zong brings this ease to mobile. Now facebook can bring that ease to hundreds of millions of users.?

Facebook would not comment past the information provided in its release.

?We are looking at extending our virtual currency ? Facebook Credits ? via a very small alpha test with a handful of developers,? said Brandee Barker, director of communications at Facebook, San Francisco, in a statement. 

?As part of this test, we are working with Zong to explore ways for users to easily purchase credits and virtual goods by entering their mobile number, rather than credit card information, in the supported application,? she said.