Facebook Messenger Reaches 500 Million Users
You Don't Reach Half A Billion Friends Without Spamming A Few Enemies
Half a billion people now use Facebook's standalone app: Messenger. Should we all be congratulating Facebook for their feat? Messenger seems to have done what Slingshot and other Facebook failed apps could not do.It would be quite an achievement if Facebook hadn't forced its mobile users into getting Messenger. In April, Messenger had 'only' 200 million users and so Facebook had to come up with a plan to make people turn to it as a stand-alone app. Over the summer, Facebook user's were dismayed to learn that they could no longer message their friends from the main Facebook app, but were redirected to the App store and forced to download Messenger instead. You had no other choice if you wanted to see what your friend had sent you.
Although the app has only 1.5 stars on the IOS store, taking Messenger off the main Facebook app was a good decision. With Messenger, you can really reach your friends, the ones with smart phones, instantly - just like texting. It's quicker than having to go through loading the main Facebook app to view messages. Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook "could never deliver the quality of experience as just a tab in the main Facebook app."
Facebook have announced that they will be continually improving Messenger to provide users with the best possible experience. After making us download the app, let's hope they won't disappoint their 500 Million users.
Laura is a recent graduate from University of East Anglia in Film and Television Studies, currently interning as a content writer but hoping to one day live off her writing. Follow her @LauraAtSMF.
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Facebook Messenger Reaches 500 Million Users
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Reviewed by Anonymous
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Wednesday, November 12, 2014
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Anonymous
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