Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Messenger 3.0

facebook.com

41–50 of 61 posts

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#41
What a coincidence. I just had a conversation with a friend about how FB failed with its Messenger to get the users of Whatsapp & other similar apps. Apparently they know this and are trying to improve it. Same discussion applies to Skype that was never able to make a fast user experience on mobile: every update of Skype on my iPhone seem to slow down the app and make it more crash friendly...

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#42
The android one has an iOS 7 aesthetic that feels really odd on Android. Also, Google Hangouts just absorbed actual SMS on Android, so that will be interesting.

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#44

To those complaining about this, you're not the target market. I was on a train from Chicago to Detroit a week ago and there was a group of about 10 high schoolers sitting behind me. We got talking about iPhone apps and I asked what was popular. They all agreed Facebook was not as cool anymore and confessed to being addicted to messaging apps that their parents couldn't check up on like they could with texts. Snapcha…

Facebook isn't just losing ground to a specific demographic, they're losing centrality and relevance in a market they defined. While Facebook may be pervasive, it's pervasive in the way that Microsoft Office was in an era of Macs and Google Apps 2 years ago; We all kept a copy of Word installed for when someone emailed us a .doc or .ppt file.

Would love to grab lunch or discuss further where this is all headed from a broader market and societal standpoint, for anyone in the Bay Area.

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#45
This appears to be a reaction to Google Hangouts more than anything else. From the Play Store description for Facebook Messenger, it sounds like you can indeed send messages to friends based on their phone number, but it does not appear to be via SMS. It's more similar to something like Snapchat, where it uses your phonebook to find people who have registered their phone numbers with the app.

Furthermore, last week, information leaked regarding Facebook dropping SMS support due to lack of uptake. One source for this: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/10/29/facebook-testing-new-m...

Long story short, this appears to be a data-only messaging app, not unlike pre-SMS Hangouts or some of the other apps people in this thread have mentioned (Kik, Whatsapp, etc.).

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#46

I just prefer to use the FB app it self. When I was using the Messenger app, I would get a notification from Messenger and the FB app, it got rather annoying.

I didn't, but making it a requirement to enter your phone number to use the app with no mentions of what the privacy controls for people being able to message you with just your phone number are made the new app a quick uninstall.

Facebook, you've had enough privacy problems in the past, is it really that hard to outline what's going on here or even just not require the number? I've heard that GVoice numbers don't work, as well, which just makes it even worse.

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#47
post #20
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now you can message people in your phone book Doesn't this mean FB will be hacking your phone book? Nice backdoor...

When you launch the updated Messenger app on iOS, it asks for permission to use your contacts. The alert message was sufficiently creepy that I didn't give it permission to "sync contacts" with Facebook.

Yep. Just another bite at the apple. It only takes one mistake.

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#48

so facebook saved 3billion dollars and rolled out a snapchat clone in 30 days, it can claim a billion user in next 60 days

If you're talking about Poke, no one uses it. It hasn't been updated for iOS7, and most likely never will. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook-poke/id588594730?mt...

check the new Facebook messenger, with sms verification, send message to your contacts on phone and a lot more.

same as whatsapp and snapchat does

Re: Facebook Messenger 3.0

#50

Based on the App Store screenshots, there's basically no Facebook branding. Just colors and a like button. Even the app icon doesn't say Facebook. Interesting.

Indeed... When I saw the updated icon on my home screen I wondered for a minute what this thing was.
Post reply on HN