Facebook Messenger lead David Marcus made some new announcements for the product on Thursday. First off is a new milestone with Messenger achieving over 900 million monthly active users. That’s an addition of about 100 million in about three months. In January, Facebook released an infographic showing 800 million.
Marcus also announced that there are now over a billion messages sent per month between people and businesses/pages. That number is destined to see rapid growth itself as Facebook puts more of a business focus on Messenger. Recent revelations from the app’s code include a potential payment feature, and some are even seeing a suggested businesses feature right in the app itself. It’s unclear if this is just a limited test or if it will become a full-fledged feature.
Other new announcements from Marcus include the roll-out of Messenger Codes, Usernames, and Links with a m.me[youusername] URL for people and businesses. These, Marcus said, will make it easier than ever to connect. The roll-out will be gradual, he said, but that it “shouldn’t be too long.”
Both the codes (which will presumably be scannable with phone cameras) and the links should be particularly helpful for businesses hoping to connect with people through Messenger more. They can potentially be included anywhere a brand wants them to be seen and interacted with. There’s a lot of marketing potential here.
Facebook’s F8 conference is coming up next week, and there will no doubt be plenty of focus on Messenger, what can be done with it now, and at least hints of of what’s on the horizon.