Facebook's long-term plan to integrate Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp chat platforms appeared to kick into gear over the weekend as Instagram users in the U.S. were notified of a "new way to message" on the photo-sharing social network that merges the app's chat feature with Facebook Messenger.
As a result of the merging of the chat services, the change means Instagram users will be able to chat with Facebook users and vice versa. After the update is applied, some features previously only available on Facebook Messenger can be accessed in Instagram, including colorful chats, more emoji reactions, and swipe-to-reply.
In addition, the regular paper airplane DM icon in the top-right corner of the Instagram UI is replaced by the Facebook Messenger logo, and the Messenger features noted above are applied.
However, as The Verge notes, it's still not possible to message Facebook users from Instagram, but unification is clearly the plan, as Facebook explained back in January 2019.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly wants all the apps to incorporate end-to-end encryption, like WhatsApp does now. When the unification is complete, the services will continue to operate as their own standalone apps, but the company's work will make them interoperable with one another.
Ultimately, by stitching the apps' infrastructure together, Zuckerberg seeks to increase keep their billions of users highly engaged inside the Facebook ecosystem, in an attempt to ward off rival texting apps like Apple's iMessage.
Top Rated Comments
Seems a far ways off though.
Already deleted the app a few times, but always get dragged back in by people who use it only.
I may start being a little more pushy to get some of my contacts onto Telegram or Signal now.
Facebook is a platform where you're required to use your real name; it's meant for interacting mostly with people you know in real life.
Instagram is a platform where you can use a handle and it's meant for interacting with people on the Internet at large. A large percentage of Instagram users want to keep their real name/identity a secret.
It seems merging the two is a recipe for disaster. Instagram users are not going to want to use their real names on Facebook, and there will be privacy concerns going in the other direction too.