Facebook has announced its latest branding for Messenger, as most of the new updates and features are highlighted in the new announcement had been revealed as a part of the previous as part of the Instagram Direct Messages and Messenger integration.
As you can see in the video below, Messenger has added the new feature Rooms, group video watching, a bar for customized emoji response, color gradients in conversations, and new personalized stickers. All of them have been announced previously, yet there are some elements that will be declared in the latest update.
The major change in the update is the new Messenger logo which employs a color gradient tone as well.
According to the announcement of Messenger:
“Our new logo reflects a shift to the future of messaging, a more dynamic, fun, and integrated way to stay connected to the people you’re close to.”
We think it is not a huge difference though, we don’t really know what in that change reflects the future of messaging but it is for sure more of just the plain blue logo of the past.
Facebook has added a new chat theme option as well, e.g. tie-dye and love” which are basically custom backgrounds for your chat threads.
“10 million people customize their conversations every day so we know that personalization is important when it comes to how you connect. Together with new delight features like selfie stickers and vanish mode that is coming soon, making your chats fun and personalized has never been easier.”
The range of the new messenger features that have been revealed in the past few months are considerable, including new means to personalize your chat looks and engage by visual tools and videos in the chat rooms and so on. And considering that combination, it is clear that Messenger has improved, even if the most recent update was maybe less of a change, and more of the ‘moment to reflect’ on what has been added.
Certainly, the usage of Messenger has massively changed in 2020. Last April, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, has announced that the number of video calls on messenger had increased in the COVID-19 global lockdown, and that some categories on the app had risen by x10 more in the period such as group video chat. And that’s why Facebook has added these new features, though the company is also still pushing with its expansion plans to integrate all of its messaging features and tools, and apply -by default- the end-to-end encryption in all chats.
These 2 elements can still be facing some considerable opposition, particularly given the latest finding that Facebook holds monopoly power in the market, after the antitrust investigations. That probably means that Facebook will, in the end, get blocked from integrating its features, or it would also face further limitations. However, anyway, what is obvious and clear is that Messenger has improved, and has had some significant changes from a regular SMS-style messenger application to one that has a lot of visual features.
The branding and advertising opportunities in such are somehow still limited, as Facebook is improving on the forefront as well. And with the rising use shifts, it’s worth keeping tags on your messaging chances and bearing in mind how each new release relates and announcements to your efforts.
