Facebook Messenger Platform • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#11

Post by nns » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 5:51 PM UTC

Wouldn't it be wise for Facebook to just replace Messenger with WhatsApp and offer that as a platform?

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#12

Post by vlunkr » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 5:53 PM UTC

nns wrote: post #11

Wouldn't it be wise for Facebook to just replace Messenger with WhatsApp and offer that as a platform?

I'm confused about this as well. Why are they choosing to compete with themselves?

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#13

Post by sajid » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 5:54 PM UTC

This is the old platform. Not what was announced at F8 today.

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#14

Post by loader » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

nns wrote: post #11

Wouldn't it be wise for Facebook to just replace Messenger with WhatsApp and offer that as a platform?

They showed a graph in the keynote, WhatsApp for one-on-one communication, Messenger for small group communication. So they see them as different use cases.

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#15

Post by mooseburger » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

loader wrote: post #14

nns wrote: post #11

Wouldn't it be wise for Facebook to just replace Messenger with WhatsApp and offer that as a platform?

They showed a graph in the keynote, WhatsApp for one-on-one communication, Messenger for small group communication. So they see them as different use cases.

That's hilarious. Everyone uses WhatsApp for their friend group.

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#16

Post by lazzlazzlazz » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 6:04 PM UTC

mooseburger wrote: post #15

loader wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They showed a graph in the keynote, WhatsApp for one-on-one communication, Messenger for small group communication. So they see them as different use cases.

That's hilarious. Everyone uses WhatsApp for their friend group.

Maybe everyone that you know. Surely Facebook has the data to make a distinction like this.

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#17

Post by jswrenn » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 6:08 PM UTC

Back in 2009, Google Talk toyed with a similar idea of realtime chat as a platform for other applications to build on. [0] The demos were very neat at the time, but it turned out to be a brief detour along a road that ended with Google stripping out extensibility and interoperation from Google Talk and building it into the service we now know as Google Hangouts.

I love the idea of chat as a platform, but Facebook will need to convince developers it won't close the door on them down the road.

[0] - http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2009/05/attention-nerds-new-g...

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#18

Post by atonse » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 6:09 PM UTC

Anyone know what stack FB uses for their messaging platform? I know WhatsApp uses Erlang...

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#19

Post by lazzlazzlazz » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 6:09 PM UTC

nns wrote: post #11

Wouldn't it be wise for Facebook to just replace Messenger with WhatsApp and offer that as a platform?

Facebook and WhatsApp already have vastly different feature sets, and don't even work similarly (with regard to devices, etc.). That's by design.

Re: Facebook Messenger Platform

#20

Post by Scriptor » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 6:09 PM UTC

mooseburger wrote: post #15

loader wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They showed a graph in the keynote, WhatsApp for one-on-one communication, Messenger for small group communication. So they see them as different use cases.

That's hilarious. Everyone uses WhatsApp for their friend group.

Everyone I know uses Messenger for group conversations.

Anecdotes can go both ways. As far as I've been able to tell, WhatsApp is most popular outside of the US.