Facebook Messenger May Soon Be Available On Mac
Mac desktop users may be able to use the Facebook Messenger app very soon according to the website Tech Crunch. The website had obtained a photo and an eyewitness report that the social media site developed a prototype Facebook Messenger app for Mac desktops.
Josh Constine, who wrote the article for Tech Crunch, claims that having this specific app for Mac users will make it easier for people to chat with one another when they are on a computer.
“Instead of getting buried in one of many web browser tabs that users have to switch to so they can text friends, the dedicated Messenger desktop app would be instantly accessible from the Dock,” said Constine.
The person in the photo is said to be a Facebook employee using the prototype app, which has been described as an “official client” rather than an “unofficial product,” according to iClarified, a website dedicated to Apple tutorials and related news.
The website declared that “While it’s tough to see in this grainy close up, the official client the Facebook employee was working on includes a navigation tab bar in the bottom left.”
It was also noted that the Messenger icon was visible on the prototype and that the tab bar options were identical to the official Messenger app for iOS mobile including Groups, Recent, People, and Settings. The Economic Times noted that some sources have confirmed that this is indeed an official Messenger for Mac app because the employee in the photo was logged onto Facebook’s internal portals.
Facebook however had no comment on the news claiming that they don’t comment on speculation and rumors.
According to the website Trefis, in an article titled “Will 2016 Be The Year Of Facebook Messenger?” proclaimed that in 2015, the app had 800 million monthly users. It also held the title of fastest growing app in 2015.
This year, Facebook plans to transform the Messenger app into the “Everything App” to give users the ability to access all businesses and services, therefore making other apps useless. They also plan to utilize Messenger to able to make video and voice calls, as well as sharing photos, sending text messages, and making payments. The company also wants to separate Messenger from Facebook, so more users could use the app without having a Facebook account.
Josh Constine also proclaimed that separating Facebook from Messenger has the possibility to make it easier for users to not have to see the social media site’s ads.
“That’s a sacrifice Facebook seems willing to make to boost its chances of winning the war to control chat,” said Constine. “After all, Facebook already separated messaging from the News Feed on mobile.”
Last week it was reported by Jamie Condliffe of Gizmodo, a technology and design blog, that Facebook Messenger has started experimenting with so called “chat bots.” These are similar to what Uber uses to help customers call for a ride. It is said to provide a similar experience to Uber where customers have the ability to ask a bot questions, make payments, and order products and services. It could become a platform where businesses and other brands can use to provide services. Some users can already directly message some businesses.
“Building out a series of bots could automate the experience and take it to a somewhat different level, where transactions take place through conversations rather than navigating a website or app,” said Condliffe. “If it does happen, things might all feel a bit weird at first.”
Even weirder was the report in Business Insider, that Miss Piggy of The Muppets is a chat bot on Facebook Messenger. Using popular characters to hawk products such as films could give Facebook potential revenue-share and a slice of any movie ticket purchase using Messenger. In this world we live in, anything is possible.
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
