As Facebook announced that their "independent" Messenger app has already reached half a million users, chances are some of those are still angry that they were "forced" to migrate to a separate app to keep using the service. But has Mark Zuckerberg admitted that they made a mistake with this move? Have people finally accepted that they shouldn't be surprised anymore by the social media giant's moves constant changes and moves that may alienate some but still keep the rest of us using it everyday?
Facebook head honcho Mark Zuckerberg, in the company's first public town hall Q&A, had to face the question (in fact the very first one thrown at him) as to why they forced this change on their users. He said that separating the Messaging app from the main Facebook feed makes sense since not all users of the two actually intersect. For the growing number of mobile users who rely heavily on instant messaging, having the Messenger feature removed from the social network is actually very convenient. And even from an app development perspective, it gives the developers the freedom to build on its features and capabilities without crippling Facebook in itself.
And we have to admit, as much as we groaned and complained about the enforcement of the separate Messaging app, we have seen how it fueled the growth of conversations and added features (aren't those stickers a hoot?) that we normally would've ignored since it will be lost in the noise of our news feed. The statement from Facebook on reaching their 500 million Messenger milestone says they are more committed than ever to bring "the best possible messaging experience" to its users.
We're not sure if all this excitement over instant messaging apps like Viber, Line, Hangouts, etc, will actually fully replace SMS in the near future or if it's just a fad that will eventually give way to something new. But for sure, Facebook will win either way, since its core product is still going strong as ever, and they can just kill the Messenger separately, if ever IMs become pointless in the future, without having to make a major change to the main app.
SOURCE: Facebook
VIA: SlashGear