14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has plenty of reasons to brag these days as the company's Messenger app now has 1.2 billion monthly users.
The numbers aren't really all that surprising, however. Facebook kind of forced everyone to use Messenger as a smartphone app after disabling direct messaging inside the Facebook app. Basically, you can't send messages on the go without having Messenger installed. Facebook has 1.86 billion monthly users, out of which, it seems, 1.2 billion also use Messenger.
"We now have over 1.2 billion people actively using Messenger every month. And I keep on hearing powerful stories about how our product is becoming a more important part of your daily lives. So from all of us here at Messenger, a heartfelt thank you to all of you for giving us a chance to build something good and more meaningful for you," writes David Marcus, head of Messenger at Facebook.
And if you think people are over the fact that Facebook forced them to use Messenger, you're sorely mistaken because most of the comments on Marcus' post came from people who pointed out the very fact that they don't really have another option.
200 million new users in 8 months
On the other hand, in the past 8 months, the number of Messenger users grew by 200 million. Marcus told TechCrunch that with 1.2 billion monthly active users, the engagement levels rose massively in terms of number of messages sent per active user. "We had double-digit growth percentage-wise," he said.
In recent months, Facebook has rolled numerous updates for Messenger, most of which are considered to be "borrowed" from Snapchat. Regardless of this detail, people have embraced Messenger more and more, including teenagers. Marcus said that they built a product that teens use now.
Just the other day, Facebook also announced that its in-app payment tool was expanding to group messages, which would make it easier to send and receive money for group gifts, for instance.