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Facebook
Inc. said Monday 500 million people regularly use its Messenger app. In
a controversial move during the summer, it required users to download
Messenger in addition to its main app to
continue using the chat service
on smartphones, but that seems to have had little effect on the social
network's mobile reach.
Facebook has more than doubled the number of monthly active
users it had on the chat app in April when it had reached the 200
million mark, despite angering a few users
in the process. Messenger is now chasing the total number of monthly
active users for WhatsApp (600 million), which it acquired earlier this
year. The announcement comes days after founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg
addressed the “friction” the forced installation created with users
during a Q&A with users.
“Messaging is one of the things that people do more than social networking,” he said.
"Even though it was a short-term, painful thing ... we knew that we
could never deliver a quality experience inside as a tab on the main
app.”
Facebook is also looking to move into mobile payments in its messaging app. Not content with its better-than-expected growth
in mobile advertising, the social network may be planning to allow
users to exchange money on Messenger much like they would transfer a
photo.
Code was found embedded
within the iOS version of the app that allows users to add debit and
PIN codes to Messenger to allow them to send money. Facebook, however,
will likely take some time to establish “trust” with its users first,
which Zuckerberg admitted faltered when it removed Messenger features
from the main app.
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