Do you guys remember the confusion when Facebook decided to move Messenger outside of its mainstream social media platform and start a standalone app? Why? No one knew. It seems they themselves didn’t know either. Right now, according to Bloomberg, Facebook is testing adding voice and video calls to the main Facebook app. The company hasn’t shared any plans as to other features of Messenger but Messenger’s Director of Product Management Connor Hayes disclosed to Bloomberg that “you are going to start to see quite a bit more of this over time.”
Facebook started testing limited functionality of Messenger Inbox in the core Facebook app last autumn and the latest development will be rolled out to a limited audience (likely mostly in the US) on Monday. What you can expect? Voice and video calls. This new feature is a test designed to reduce the need to jump back and forth between apps so it seems that the company started looking at Messenger as a service rather than a standalone app.
Although we welcome this development it remains to be seen what’s the long term plan. Is this move designed to make our experience more enjoyable or is it simply to counteract recent federal government lawsuit that could potentially spin off some of Facebook’s acquisitions like WhatsApp and Instagram. Time will show.