Facebook messenger usage has now topped 500 million and this partly due to Facebook forcing most mobile users to download the app is they want to keep enjoying “IMing”.
This forced download on users by Facebook drew some backlash from users but Facebook’s director of product management, Peter Martinazzi had this to say to critics “Messaging is an important part of how people stay connected and since Messenger launched in 2011 we’ve been passionate about giving people a faster and more expressive way to communicate,”
“Messenger was the first of our standalone apps, and unlike our core Facebook apps, it focused on one use case – messaging,” Mr Martinazzi said.
“We’ve also continued to improve speed and reliability. Updates to Messenger ship every two weeks so it continues to evolve and improve,” he added, indicating that Facebook plans to stick with the app despite the negative feedback.
But Facebook is not the only the Tech company which does this. Google via its one account login to all its platforms has created Google+ accounts for users without their consent in the past with the difference being they don’t force you to sign up but you automatically do that when you sign up to any of its services.
The criticism of Facebook’s force download of the new messenger has led its App store rating to fall to one and a half stars.
But here’s the real catch here, Facebook’s messenger now has over 500 million users, its newly acquired Whatsapp platform has over 600 million users. So in total, Faacebook now has over 1 billion people who use its platforms for mobile messaging which now makes Facebook the biggest mobile messaging service in the world by users. This is very significant for a company that already prides itself as the biggest social networking site in the world.
I am Martin Odinuwe, a logo identity designer, Graphic designer, Video editor and a professional videographer based in Abuja, Nigeria with over five years experience. I am currently a consultant with Reachout Multiservice company ltd a multimedia company in Abuja
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