Now admit it – you were irritated when you were asked to download another app on your phone if you wanted to private message Facebook friends and hated the idea that you kind of had to do it. You thought it was clunky and unnecessary and took up space and cluttered the phone for no reason. Slowly we all got used to it, discovered that it wasn’t just a bad thing after all, that before you knew it, Bang! There are a billion of us using the blasted app!
A billion Facebook Messenger users
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One billion people all over the world use the Facebook Messenger app each month. What started off as an app that peeved people who felt compelled to download it, is now one of the few apps in the world that touches so many lives. With good reason, as many of us slowly discovered.
Many uses
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Now people use the messenger as they would with their WhatsApp and more besides: they say Hi, send jokes, share pictures, links, play games and make plans by creating groups quickly and effortlessly.
You can make voice and video calls
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So now you can make voice calls and video calls via the app and it costs you nothing except the data you use (and explains the embarrassment of making and receiving unintended calls to acquaintances as you explored the various features).
You can chat with a Bot
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Personally I don’t know why you would, but you can if you want: chat with a travel bot, a food bot, payment bot, entertainment bot and so on. Just kidding! The chat-bots are actually rather good at providing help and info.
The stickers
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If it’s father’s day, they have special stickers, they have special stickers for mother’s day, sporting events and anything they think is important to us. And of course there are the emojis for all the possible human emotions you can think of as well… saves you having to use actual language. Just make faces! Brill!
You don’t even need Facebook!
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Here’s an example of the child outgrowing the parent. You can use messenger without Facebook!
There is so much you can do!
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Use the Dropbox feature, use GIPHY, Bitmoji (for your personal emoji), Tumblr, Draw Something, Spotify, Talking Tom, Sound Clips, Doodle, Mini Movie and a dizzying array of other possibilities.
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You can even make FB Messenger your SMS app so that all your messages are in one place and easy to access.
So rather reluctantly I come to the conclusion that FB messenger isn’t so bad after all. And there is a billion people who agree with me.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
