Saturday, January 9, 2016
On January 7th, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted an infographic on his Facebook page announcing that Facebook’s messenger app is being used by 800 million users every month. While this could seem a big number to many, I wasn’t surprised at all. We are constantly online and Messenger has become a part of your digital lives. But, this hasn’t happened on its own — it’s a result of the perfect execution of a long-term strategy by Facebook.
When Facebook bought WhatsApp after signing a multi-billion deal, many people compared it with Facebook’s own IM service Messenger. But, Facebook has constantly worked to draw a differentiating line between the two. Last year at its F8 conference, Facebook announced that it’ll be developing Messenger as a platform while WhatsApp will be a simple app that’ll continue to focus on make texting and calling a better experience.
In 2015, Facebook made significant changes in Messenger that included video calling, ability to customize conversations with emojis and stickers, updated location sharing, money sharing and a lot more. In his Facebook post, Zuckerberg tells his own story — “It’s an important part of how I run Facebook and keep in touch with my friends and family. I use Messenger to quickly get information from engineers to make decisions. I also message a lot with Priscilla every day and probably use way too many stickers.”
Messenger is one of the top priorities of Facebook in 2016. The company swears to work hard to bring to you more and more ways to communicate with your friends and family. Facebook has already started testing M, its own digital virtual assistant. In his latest blog post, company’s VP of Messaging Products, David Marcus has urged you to do everything the Facebook’s way — as if pushing Free Basics down people’s throat wasn’t enough.
First let’s set some context. Think about it: SMS and texting came to the fore in the time of flip phones. Now, many of us can do so much more on our phones; we went from just making phone calls and sending basic text-only messages to having computers in our pockets.David Marcus, VP of Facebook Messaging Products
Thanks to the endless number of messaging apps, we have arrived at a point where we don’t remember phone numbers and contact details of other people. With its Messenger app, Facebook is working to eradicated your phone numbers altogether.
Last year, Facebook decided that it will now give its users an option to use sign up for the Messenger without needing a Facebook account. With Messenger, now you can make calls to a person without needing to know someone’s phone number.
“With Messenger, we offer all the things that made texting so popular, but also so much more. Yes, you can send text messages, but you can also send stickers, photos, videos, voice clips, GIFs, your location, and money to people,” Facebook writes in its blog post.
While using WhatsApp to make money isn’t Facebook’s top priority at the moment, Facebook is working hard on Messenger to open a new revenue stream for a long time growth.
Slowly and gradually Facebook is looking to take over your entire phone — wait for it — it’s just a matter of time.
Images: Facebook
