This morning, Facebook Messenger is releasing a slew of new features, the most notable of which is cross-app group chats. The company introduced cross-app messaging between Messenger and Instagram last year, but users will now be able to start group chats with their Instagram and Messenger contacts. Polls in Instagram DMs have also been added today, building on the poll feature that already exists in Messenger.
In addition, regardless of which app you’re chatting on, Messenger is adding a group typing feature to group DMs to help users see when their friends are typing at the same time. Users will also be able to use Messenger’s existing Watch Together feature to view Instagram posts like Reels and IGTV videos at the same time, as Instagram embraces video content. These announcements come just hours before the company is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate about the negative effects of Instagram and Facebook on mental health. However, these additions are related to a separate federal investigation into Facebook’s operations.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging that it is a monopoly that needs to be broken up. However, as individual Facebook products become increasingly reliant on one another, the company may be able to argue that these apps are inextricably linked and cannot be separated. A Facebook spokeswoman told TechCrunch last month, as Facebook Messenger celebrated its tenth anniversary, that the firm saw Messenger as “connective tissue regardless of the surface.”
Messenger threw in a few fun ones for those of us who love customization and are afraid of Mercury retrograde, aside from updates that further integrate Facebook and Instagram. There’s also an astrology-themed suite of chat themes, stickers, and Instagram AR filters, as well as a cottagecore chat theme. What do teenagers like more than cottagecore and pop music? Messenger threw in a few fun ones for those of us who love customization and are afraid of Mercury retrograde, aside from updates that further integrate Facebook and Instagram. There’s also an astrology-themed suite of chat themes, stickers, and Instagram AR filters, as well as a cottagecore chat theme. What do teenagers like more than cottagecore and pop music?
