Messenger returns to the Facebook mobile app after nine years
They removed Messenger from the Facebook mobile app so long ago that by that point, Windows Phone was still a thing. After nearly nine years apart, Meta has decided to reunite the pair. As Facebook’s head Tom Alison explained, “We are testing the ability for people to access their Messenger inbox within the Facebook app and you’ll see us expand this testing soon,”. In the end, “Ultimately, we want it to be easy and convenient for people to connect and share, whether in the Messenger app or directly within Facebook.”
FB stated that it wanted to “focus development resources on delivering Messenger the greatest mobile messaging experience possible and prevent the confusion of having distinct Facebook mobile messaging experiences” when it decided to split Messenger from the Facebook app in 2014. Meta may or may not have any intentions to restore Facebook’s chat functionality to its mobile browser app. Around 2016, it began encouraging mobile browser users to download the Messenger app instead. One less app to manage on your phone is never a bad thing. Instagram users may soon be able to receive messages through the Facebook app.
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The news was revealed in a peculiarly worded blog post by Meta, who claimed to be discussing Facebook’s priorities for the year 2023. Considering that Facebook today has over 2 billion members, the article aims to reassure its readers that it is very much alive and well.
To better compete with TikTok, Meta is working to transform Facebook from a social networking app into a discovery and entertainment hub. “make Facebook the best place for social discovery and sharing,” as Alison phrased it in her blog post, is the stated goal.
“make it easier for people to share what they discover on Facebook via messaging, when, where and how it suits their needs, without needing to switch to another app,” Alison said, explaining why Meta is reintroducing messaging to the Facebook app. TikTok includes in-app messaging that may be used to send videos discovered by users to their friends. Thus, on the one hand, Meta is pulling an about-face and reverting to an older approach, but on the other, it is once again copying a rival.