Messenger’s Director of Messaging Product Satish Kumar Srinivasan shares insights into the app’s journey over the past 10 years and what users can watch now
The month of August has completed 10 years since Facebook Messenger was launched. The messaging service began as a feature integrated into Facebook’s app, but turned into a standalone app for iOS and Android in 2011.
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The Facebook-owned social network now hosts more than a billion users, the number of group video and audio calls has doubled in the past year, and call duration is growing 150%. Over time, Messenger has introduced many features To integrate with other apps in the Facebook family, including instagram And oculus.
Recently, the social network introduced End-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, an effort to improve security and privacy on the messaging platform.
in an exclusive interview with HinduSatish Kumar Srinivasan, Messenger’s director of messaging product, shares insights into the app’s journey over the past 10 years and what users can watch now.
The following transcript has been edited for brevity.
What will Messenger do to make the service more personal for Indian users?
We know that people in India rely on messaging apps like Messenger to connect with their friends and families. So we are always working on creating rich facilities and experience.
Last year, we partnered with WHO and developers to help government health organizations connect with people and provide accurate information on COVID-19. Several government health organizations, including the Indian government, have launched Messenger experiences. He started the “Corona Helpdesk” experience to inform people about the dos and don’ts to help stop the spread of the virus.
We’ve also opened up our platform to allow developers and businesses to build chat experiences on Messenger. During the pandemic, we saw a 40% increase in daily conversations between people and businesses on Messenger and Instagram. In 2020, State Bank of India leveraged Messenger to replicate in-person interactions. Over half a million people started chatting on Messenger and were able to experience seamless banking.
How has Messenger integration with Instagram worked so far?
Right now, we’re focusing on cross-app communication between Messenger and Instagram. More than 60% of eligible people on Instagram have updated the new Messenger experience to enjoy new features, such as the ability to message people across apps. We’re glad to see that the majority of Instagram users are updating to the new Messenger experience on Instagram. People love the new features, including the ability to customize chats with new themes, the ability to react with any emoji, and easily connect with friends and family across apps.
Can you elaborate on the development of Messenger Kids since its inception? What is Messenger’s vision for children’s online safety?
Since its launch in 2017, Messenger Kids has connected millions of children with the people they care about most through a fun, parent-supervised messaging app experience. With the transition to distance learning for schools and a lack of physical social interaction, parents have turned to technology to help their children stay connected with friends and family, and Messenger Kids helps children maintain and build relationships. Became helpful to help.
In 2020, we expanded Messenger Kids to over 170 countries around the world, including India, and introduced new features for both parents and kids. We’ve introduced a parenting dashboard that gives parents insight and control over how their child is using Messenger Kids, who they are connected with and how much time they are spending in the app. We’ve also introduced tons of new AR effects, sticker packs and interactive activities to help kids express themselves and engage their friends. We are continuing to develop new experiences that help children form closer relationships with their friends and family.
We know that when building for kids, we have to get it right and we take that responsibility seriously. We designed Messenger Kids to be law-abiding, but we’ve done a lot more. We created the app with input from families as well as child safety and development experts, and we will continue to do so.
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