Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is now in the process of moving its customers from the inbuilt chat function on Facebook for iOS and Android apps to the Facebook Messenger app, according to The Telegraph.
Those who have both the Facebook app and the Messenger will be automatically redirected to the messenger app for incoming messages, but customers who do not have Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Messenger installed will be prompted to install the app on their mobile phones to use the chat function.
A Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) spokesperson said, quoted by The Telegraph, “In the next few days, we’re continuing to notify more people that if they want to send and receive Facebook messages, they’ll need to download the Messenger app,” adding, “Our goal is to focus development efforts on making Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences.”According to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), users will see messages delivered 20% faster on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Messenger than on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Additionally, the app provides some improved features, such as group chats, voice calls, and stickers.
By keeping the two apps separate, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) intends to improve both apps’ performance gradually. This move follows the revelation that their young client base is moving away from some social media into others, such as WhatsApp and WeChat.
However, Nicola Mendelsohn, the head of Facebook in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, stated that three quarters of this particular client base is back to using Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) regularly. Interestingly, at Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women conference in London, she acknowledged that the ‘mobile first’ approach has been instrumental in engaging this demographic and maintaining its interest. She said, “We are seeing more and more growth at Facebook as the result of these incredible computers that we have in each of our hands. So mobile, mobile, mobile.”
She also said that the $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has helped the company find new ways people use to communicate.
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