Meta has confirmed that Messenger will be re-added to the Facebook app after several years away.
In 2016, the company made the controversial decision to remove in-app messaging functionality to drive people to its dedicated Messenger app. The return of the feature is being tested among some users now and will be expanded “soon,” Facebook chief Tom Alison wrote in a blog post.
“Over the coming year, we’ll build more ways to integrate messaging features in Facebook,” said Alison. “Ultimately, we want it to be easy and convenient for people to connect and share, whether in the Messenger app or directly within Facebook.”
The move comes as Meta is looking for new ways to compete with TikTok. As part of these efforts, the company has been trying to position itself as a platform for entertainment and discovery, rather than simply social networking. For example, TikTok allows users to share videos directly through in-app messaging, so Meta undoubtedly wants to do something similar with Facebook.
Interestingly, this news was tucked away in a larger blog post about Facebook’s future, which coincides with new reports that the company is planning thousands of layoffs. This also follows Meta’s announcement in November that it plans to cut around 11,000 employees. During all of this, Meta also reportedly lost nearly $14 billion USD (about 19.2 billion CAD) on its plans for the metaverse.
“Contrary to reports otherwise, Facebook is not dead nor dying, but in fact alive and thriving with 2 billion daily active users,” claims Alison. “People are using Facebook for more than connecting with friends and family, but also to discover and engage around what is most important to them.”
Interestingly, Alison didn’t even mention the metaverse in the blog post and instead looked toward AI. “Our investments in AI are unlocking new ways for people to discover great new content on Facebook and share it with the people they care about,” said Alison.
“As our world-class Meta AI research teams continue to make advancements in AI, particularly generative AI, Facebook — and Meta more broadly — will look to bring this transformative technology to billions of people and allow them to create and share in new ways.”
Image credit: Shutterstock
Source: Meta
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