Since Facebook made the instant messaging function independent of its platform in 2014, turning it into an independent app, Facebook Messenger has not stopped growing in terms of users (it already has more than 1,300 million monthly users around the world, not even They don’t even need to have an account open in the parent social network) or functions, constantly adding new features .
Initially, the Facebook messaging platform was just another function of the social network.
In fact, many of its users may limit themselves to using Facebook Messenger as another instant messaging tool, but are unaware of many of its applications and functions. The reality is that the possibilities of Facebook Messenger go far beyond the mere fact of sending and receiving messages. We tell you some that you may not know:
-Desktop: To begin with, it is not mandatory to use a smartphone or tablet to run the Facebook Messenger app since there is a desktop application in versions for Mac and Windows that allows access from the personal computer.
-Multiplatform: It has been one of the most controversial movements because some say that it is part of a strategy of the parent company, Facebook, to complicate a possible split of its three most popular platforms, but the truth is that Facebook Messenger already allows you to send and receive messages from the app itself with Instagram users and soon it will also add the possibility of doing so with those who use WhatsApp .
-Secret conversations: As in other messaging platforms, here you can also have a point-to-point encrypted conversation with another user so that the messages remain encrypted, including the files exchanged.
-Messages that “self-destruct”: Privacy can be further protected with the option to auto-delete messages, which disappear when you exit the app, notifying you even if the interlocutor takes a screenshot.
-Rooms: Popularized during the pandemic with the rise of Zoom, group chat rooms are also present on Facebook Messenger, called Facebook Messenger Rooms , being able to create a virtual room from which to share the screen to play or watch a movie.
-SMS: Only Android users have this option, which allows you to select Facebook Messenger as the default app to manage the sending and receiving of SMS text messages.
-Surveys: Very useful to gather information from a group of people or to decide something in common. The option to create polls appears in group chats and allows you to set various options.
-Send the location: Sometimes it is easier (and probably more accurate) than giving explanations about the location is to allow the app itself to do it. From the Location icon in the app’s actions menu, a map is opened that indicates the location and allows it to be shared with the interlocutor, making that point accessible for 60 minutes.
-Video calls: Both from the app for mobile devices and from the desktop app, just click on the camera icon in any chat to start a video call.
-Visibility: Redundant in the concern for privacy, within the security options a control is included that allows activating the notification to the contacts if the user is online and available, being able to also configure from that menu the selection of who can access to view the profile or availability.
