Messenger will soon be reunited with the Facebook app. Buried in a blog post trying to reassure users that Facebook is definitely not dying, Meta has officially announced that it is conducting a test that will add Messenger back into the Facebook app. “You’ll see us expanding these tests soon,” Facebook chief Tom Alison writes in the post.
As my colleague Alex pointed out last year, Facebook is making the move to better compete with TikTok, which has the built-in messaging options that Facebook got rid of nearly a decade ago now. However, Meta doesn’t say how many people will see the built-in inbox. I’m personally happy to hear that Meta is putting Messenger back on Facebook, and I’ll be even happier when it returns to the mobile browser version of the platform.
“Facebook is not dead or dead, but very much alive with 2 billion daily active users”
In its announcement, Facebook also reiterated that it now has more users than ever before. “Contrary to popular belief, Facebook is not dead or dead, but very much alive with 2 billion daily active users,” Alison writes. “People use Facebook for more than just connecting with friends and family, but also to discover and engage with what matters most to them.”
However, it’s unclear how many of those “everyday” Facebook users are the ones who were accidentally tricked into posting on the platform. a report The New York Times reveals that many teens and young adults on Instagram didn’t realize they checked a box that gives Instagram permission to share their posts on Facebook when they signed up for the platform. “It feels so sneaky,” says a 28-year-old Instagram user Time. “Is Facebook suffering so badly?”
