It has been almost nine years since Meta-owned Facebook removed the Messenger functionality from its mobile app and focus on its own separate app. However, the social media giant is now planning to bring them back together, according to a recent blog post by Facebook head Tom Alison.
"We are testing the ability for people to access their Messenger inbox within the Facebook app, and you'll see us expand this testing soon," Alison wrote. "Ultimately, we want it to be easy and convenient for people to connect and share, whether in the Messenger app or directly within Facebook."
When Messenger was removed from the Facebook app in 2014, the company stated that its goal was to focus on developing Messenger as the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid confusion from having separate messaging experiences.
It is unclear whether Meta plans to bring messaging back to the mobile browser version of Facebook, but the company has been pushing mobile web users towards the Messenger app since 2016. Regardless, having one less app to manage on your phone can only be a good thing. Additionally, it seems that users may soon be able to send messages to Instagram users directly from the Facebook app.
Meta's recent announcement was made in a blog post outlining the company's focus areas for 2023. The post seeks to assure people that "Facebook is not dead nor dying," as the platform now has more than 2 billion users.
Meta is trying to shift Facebook away from being primarily a social platform to more of an entertainment and discovery platform in an attempt to become more competitive with TikTok. As Alison explained in the blog post, the company is trying to "make Facebook the best place for social discovery and sharing."
One reason why Meta is bringing messaging back to the Facebook app is to make it easier for people to share content with their friends. Alison wrote that the goal is to allow people to share what they discover on Facebook via messaging "when, where and how it suits their needs, without needing to switch to another app." This is similar to how TikTok allows users to share videos they discover with their friends through built-in direct messaging. So, while Meta is reversing course in some ways by bringing messaging back to the Facebook app, it is also trying to keep up with its competitors.
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