Facebook has announced what's being considered the biggest update its Messenger app has ever received. While Messenger currently follows a layout similar to what most messaging apps offer, with the update that the Android and iOS app is getting, Facebook will keep a lot of information right at the top.
Facebook's person in charge of Messenger, David Marcus, took to the stage on Thursday to make the announcement at the Wired Business Conference. According to Marcus, Facebook is reinventing the inbox.
"When you look at the inbox and the way it's been, since it has been invented basically for the first messaging apps... the inbox was still a list of chronological threads. And it hasn't changed since then, ever," USA Today quoted him as saying.
The update brings a "Home" tab to Messenger where users can see the people they talk to the most, find out who's having their birthdays and the friends who are online right now. It goes beyond a refreshed user interface. Mashable reported that the update is a sign of bigger things coming to Messenger. Bigger things like AI and better personalisation.
The update also comes at a time when messaging is increasingly becoming a regular part of conversation. Messenger, it seem, is keen on looking relevant in a market where Apple's Messages is being opened up to third-party developers and Snapchat's valuation just shot up to $20 billion.
"I think it's great that other companies are investing in it (messaging)," Marcus was quoted as saying in the USA Today report. "When you have more activity in a vertical then it just moves creativity up the funnel and people always benefit from that."
Marcus sees a future where businesses will also feature on the home tab as more corporates embrace Facebook's chatbot platform. Imagine using Messenger to order pizza just the way you want it.
