Starting today, users in some international countries which include Venezuela, India, Indonesia, Australia, and South Africa are able to use Facebook Messenger without even having a Facebook account. Once the Messenger app is installed on their device, all they need is their name and a phone number. After providing the necessary info, the application scans for available contacts (kind of like Kik), then you’re free to group message, share photos, and more.
No word from Facebook yet on if we can expect this same update here in the U.S., but it was mentioned that it would be rolling out to additional countries in the following weeks. If you wouldn’t need an actual Facebook account to use their Messenger service, would you feel more inclined to use it? I’m sure plenty of younger folks would indeed.
Via: Facebook
Voice, Talk, G+, Messenger, so many similar apps!
International countries?
enable mms with google voice then i will be all set
That’s not a bad thing.. so all you have to do is get your friends cell number from any country and chat with them.. so it’s like free texting/pic to any cell in the world. I like this idea..hope we see this in th
That’s not what it’s doing. It’s just another HandCent / GoSMS type app. It still sends using traditional MMS/SMS methods.
I don’t know anybody who’s using FB messenger.
My Android pals are using GTalk, kids are using Kik, iOS guys using SMS.
I wish I could use GTalk more. Right now I pretty much only use to talk to my wife while we’re at work and can’t use our phones. I’ve tried moving some of my friends over to GTalk but it’s like pulling teeth.
Can’t get any to switch… To most (iOS) they don’t need 2 or 3 options. they have one that works all the way around!
G+ Messenger is significantly better, but there’s no way to use it from a desktop web browser -_-
I thought you could if you were signed into your G+ account? I’ve never used the G+ Messenger app on my phone. How do they differ?
The chats that you can see from the web version of G+ are in fact gTalk sessions. And they think the average user isn’t confused by this how?
Ah ok, thanks for the clarification.
So the Android G+ Messenger and the Google Talk are separate? I figured they were just two different frontends to the same xmpp service. Google seems to be in perpetual beta mode, even to this day.
its ridiculous, but i sort of get it. G+ Messenger supports sent/delivered/read receipts, group chats, and embedding photos in messages. not all of this is available with the XMPP protocol, so its either something homegrown by Google, or a heavily tweaked version of XMPP. i think they want to keep Talk XMPP-compliant for now. the only reason i could see for this would be the interoperability they currently have with the AIM network, but, like, come on already. based on how insanely buggy G+ Messenger was at launch, i would guess its a brand new protocol and Messenger was just google’s way of having people test out their new protocol. i guess when they think its ready, it will eventually become the backbone of the Talk platform, or, so i hope.
before I left FB in May, I didn’t feel as though it was a viable alternative to something like Kik. it was tough to tell if someone was on their phone or had just left FB open in a tab. plus I know a bunch of people who stay signed out of FB chat because they hate getting bombarded by chats when they don’t have the time to dedicate to them/are too lazy to set up lists so that not every acquaintance they’ve ever made can chat with them. the whole thing is just fundamentally broken.
Waiting for the “soshal networx r stupd” comments.
Anyone else hope that Google sees this and accelerates their plans for merging all their different messaging apps?
+10 ^^^ Couldn’t agree more!!
it makes me legitimately furious that they haven’t done this yet. talk and g+ messenger need to be merged so badly. i really just want a good cross-platform messenger that I can also use FROM MY COMPUTER but also supports groups and sent/received/read confirmations. to be honest, I’m super jealous of iMessage and its native mobile+desktop integration. come on goog 🙁
Don’t forget voice msg and stock msg app…. We have 4 options… It kills me!
AGHHHHH I KNOW! i shouldn’t have to think “hmmm which service does this person prefer?” I talk to some people with SMS, gTalk for a few, some friends really like Kik (but seriously, no concurrent sessions from a tablet? are you kidding? or a web app?), and then my girlfriend and I use GroupMe. it’s out of hand.
I believe i read somewhere that Matias Duerte said that was going to be one of the main features of Key Lime Pie. I could be wrong though.
even if that’s the case (which i seriously hope it is) widespread adoption wouldn’t happen until much, MUCH later. obviously I could understand the SMS app integration being exclusive to KLP, but it would need to be accessible to everybody. social applications that are locked to one specific brand or OS release (etc) are inherently NOT very social, and soooooo many people fail to recognize that in this industry.
True, never thought of it that way. I just want an equivalent of iMessage without having to use X amount of third party apps.