In 2014, Facebook Inc. had decided to spin off Messenger as a separate app, but the company has made the decision to bring back video and voice calling to its flagship social media platform. This is the company’s latest attempt to fine-tune its communication features. Beginning Monday, some Facebook users, including those based in the United States, will be able to use the Facebook app for placing video and voice calls. As of now, the company is only testing this new feature, but the goal is to save people from having to go back and forth between Facebook’s Messenger service and its main app.
Messenger’s director of product management, Connor Hayes disclosed these details. Last fall, Facebook had also initiated testing a limited version of the inbox of Messenger in the main social media app. There was a time when Messenger had been built into the main app, but the company had decided to spin it out nearly seven years ago. Users were forced to download the separate app for sending private messages via their mobile phones. The test on Monday is the latest in the company’s slow yet consistent efforts for integrating all of its apps and services.
According to Hayes, Facebook doesn’t regard Messenger as a stand-alone app and has begun to consider it a service. This means that people will be able to do other things while using this technology. For instance, they can play games or watch videos on Facebook, while using Messenger for video chat. Other Facebook platforms, such as Portal devices, Occulus, and Instagram also use Messenger technology for video and voice calls. Hayes said that this would become more common over time. He referred to Messenger as a connective tissue that people can use to be together when they are apart, no matter which service they decide to use.
Last September, Facebook had enabled messaging between its Messenger and Instagram app. In addition, the company also has plans of incorporating its WhatsApp messaging service with this capability as well. Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer and founder of the company, has argued that it will benefit users to have the messaging services of the company integrated together. According to the CEO, it would allow them to reach more people and cut down the need of having to jump between different apps or even downloading them.
As far as critics are concerned, they believe that the reason Facebook has decided to intertwine its services is that the company wants to make it difficult to break it up. Last week, an antitrust lawsuit was filed against the company by federal regulators in order to try and force the company into spinning off its WhatsApp and Instagram acquisitions. There have already been privacy concerns about the company and its practices and Facebook’s growing dominance. Regulators are already taking notice of other tech companies as well, such as Apple and Google, and they have also become a target for action recently.
You must be logged in to post a comment.