Facebook is today rolling out message requests, a feature within its Messenger app, to allow users to make contact with anyone else on the service.
"Forget phone numbers!" said David Marcus, VP of messaging products, on his Facebook page this morning. Marcus says the only thing users need to talk to anyone in the world, is their name. The person will have to be on Facebook though, or signed up for a Messenger account.
However, Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says phone numbers are a critical component of modern-day communication and will remain so for years. "It is ironic that Facebook is making the call for users to forget their phone numbers as they own WhatsApp, which is premised on phone numbers."
Messenger has been available as a standalone app since late 2011. Last year, Facebook announced it will force mobile users to download the separate app and not allow them to chat through the main Facebook app any more. The mobile messaging service now has over 600 million users globally.
Goldstuck says there are 13 million Facebook users in South Africa, of which 10 million use the social network through a mobile device. He says a high percentage of the 10 million will have downloaded the separate Messenger app.
Reaching out
In June, it was announced Messenger users did not require a Facebook account to use the app and could sign up for an account with only a phone number ? in a move to broaden the app's reach and make it a standalone platform.
"We truly want to make Messenger the place where you can find and privately connect with anyone you need to reach, but only be reached by the people you want to communicate with," says Marcus.
As a result of these changes, the 'other folder' that was only accessible from the Web will be removed. Users are able to accept or ignore new requests without the requestor knowing their message has been read.
"The rule is pretty simple: if you're friends on Facebook, if you have each other's contact info in your phone and have these synced, or if you have an existing open thread, the new messages from that sender will be routed to your inbox," says Marcus. "Everything else will now be a message request."
Marcus says these requests will not include spam attempts.
Content generation
Goldstuck says the new feature is an attempt by Facebook to provide an alternate form of messaging, similar to e-mail. "Anybody can contact anybody over e-mail.
"Facebook wants users to become more dependent on the social network so that it becomes the primary conduit of users' data.
"This is also a content generation exercise," says Goldstuck. "Each message is a piece of content that algorithms can be applied to, and used for tailored adverts within the main app, in a similar way to how Gmail does."
Messenger has added a number of new features in recent months, including games and video calling.
The Next Web reported today that it appears Facebook Messenger is also testing live sports updates within the app. Users are able to subscribe to game highlights and scores that will be sent to them via the app. This feature has not been rolled out to all regions yet.
In August, Facebook started testing a personal digital assistant called "M" within its Messenger service that can answer questions with live human help and perform tasks such as buying gifts online and booking restaurants.
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