Beginning as early as this week, Facebook will make it a requirement that you use their standalone Messenger app to send and receive messages (as they pull the plug on Messenger being supported from within their stock Facebook app). Generally, changes to Facebook are met with unhappiness among their users –but this time, the company is claiming it will help speed up the rates of response to messages sent out to your friends.
Facebook issued a statement regarding the move to a mandatory standalone app: “In the next few days, we’re continuing to notify more people that if they want to send and receive Facebook messages, they’ll need to download the Messenger app. As we’ve said, our goal is to focus development efforts on making Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences. Messenger is used by more than 200 million people every month, and we’ll keep working to make it an even more engaging way to connect with people.”
It can’t possibly be a coincidence that this separation occurred soon after Facebook acquired Whatsapp for $16 billion –it may be that the company is wanting to integrate additional features and functionality with the least impact to their core social networking app as possible.
Do you think this is a wise move for the social media giant? Are you more or less likely to use Facebook Messenger a result?
Jillian Koskie is an experienced software developer, content writer, project manager and usability design expert. With over 17 years in these roles, Jillian has enjoyed applying her skill-set to assist clients and users across a wide variety of sectors including: legal, health, and financial services. Combining these professional opportunities with a love of technology, Jillian is pleased to contribute articles, opinions, and advice to numerous news outlets, websites, and publications.
