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Facebook has now began merging Instagram and Messenger chats to enable users to chat across both the platforms, according to a report.
The update will soon roll out in both Andorid and iOS devices, reported Verge, citing reports from users.
Once updated, the Instagram app will be able to embed Messenger functionality, and adds more emojis and features such as swipe-to-reply and the ability to “chat with friends who use Facebook," according to the article.
This could be the latest step in Facebook’s efforts to bring individual products and apps closer together. In the past two years, it re-branded Instagram and WhatsApp to increase users’ awareness that the apps are owned by Facebook, and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has announced plans to integrate all the company’s messaging services.
Additionally, in an attempt to make all its apps -- WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram -- into one unified experience for billions of users, the social networking giant had earlier added 'WhatsApp from Facebook' for new users on its instant messaging platform.
Calling it a long-term project, Zuckerberg at the beginning of this year, said the cross-app functionality will happen in 2020 or beyond.
Meanwhile, Instagram, the photo-sharing app which Facebook acquired for $715 million in 2012, has more than 1 billion users and generated more than a quarter of the social-media company’s revenue last year. The team in charge of direct messaging on Instagram reports to the Facebook Messenger team and the company is changing Instagram’s branding to “Instagram from Facebook."
Such a move could let the social networking giant tout higher user engagement to advertisers, further ramping up its advertising division.
(Source: Livemint)
