There's a growing trend of consumers opting for digital payments and biometric security methods.

There’s a growing trend of consumers opting for digital payments and biometric security methods.

2025-08-10

A research by MasterCard and PRIME Research uncovered a substantial rise in social media discussions about mobile payments, totaling 2 million posts across platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, forums, Google+, and YouTube. This number represents a significant growth from the 85,000 posts reported back in 2012.

In 2015, digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay, and MasterPass were the primary focus of mobile payment conversations, accounting for around 97% of the total. These discussions often revolved around product launches, service enhancements, and user evaluations.

The other main topics of conversation included contactless cards (47%), biometrics (33%), personal payments (14%), and wearables (6%). The conversations on contactless cards largely centered on their global adoption in transit systems such as London and St. Petersburg, as well as at major sporting events around the world.

Security and safety concerns related to mobile payments also featured prominently, with 94% of consumers maintaining a positive or neutral view towards these services. This is a rise of 3 percentage points from the previous year and an increase of 24 percentage points since 2012.

In 2015, discussions on eliminating passwords and biometrics were particularly engaging. These topics sparked conversations in 163 countries worldwide. Fingerprint and ECG payment-related technologies gained significant traction, with facial recognition (“Selfie Pay”) leading the way as the top driver (55%) of biometric-focused discussions.

In a separate MasterCard study, First Tech Federal Credit Union was one of two global partners in fall 2015 to trial biometrics-based payment authentication using the MasterCard Identity Check. At the end of the pilot, participants were asked about their thoughts on the technology. The results showed that 88% of participants found it easy to use as a standalone method and 86% said they preferred it over password-based authentication. More than 90% of respondents also indicated that biometric payment authentication is a daily usage option they could see themselves adopting.