Facebook announced in 2019 its intention to unify all its messaging services (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram Direct) on a single platform and these new features are gradually reaching users.
Instagram and Facebook Messenger users can now message and video call each other
The latest news is that Facebook and Instagram have now introduced cross-app messaging, allowing Messenger users to find their contacts or message them on Instagram Direct and vice versa.
With cross-app messaging, in addition to finding users and messaging them, you can video chat or share posts. The announcement was made a few days ago in the United States although it is only now that users are beginning to receive a notification on their phones that their services are integrated.
The message that is reaching users
Specifically, the message that many users have shared on social networks reads:
You can now search and send messages, video chat, or share posts with people on Instagram and Facebook.
People with Instagram accounts can search for you and send you message requests on Facebook. You can choose who sends you messages in the settings.
Setting who can message you is nothing new. It’s the social network’s usual option that lets you block contacts from contacting you and control your privacy in general. So you can control who sees your Facebook posts (there are lists that you can create to make certain content only accessible to these people and not to the rest or vice versa).
After this, the user can choose to learn more about this change or click on the blue button accepting the terms of service news. This change does not condition who can see your stories and publications. That is, what you post on Instagram will be seen by people who follow you on this social network, and what you upload to Facebook will be accessible to your contacts added to this platform.
A controversial integration, but one that is gradually taking shape
The integration of the different platforms of Mark Zuckerberg’s company is taking shape despite the controversy that has arisen. In August 2020, it was already announced that, although they were two very different services, Instagram began to receive many of Facebook’s functions. With that novelty, Instagram started to have an icon to access Messenger direct messages: instead of the traditional paper airplane, the app showed the conversation balloon with a lightning bolt, the icon of Facebook Messenger.
A month later, in September, it became possible for some users to start sending messages via Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct synchronously. That is to say, conversations started to appear with the same messages in both apps, regardless of which one you send or read the messages from. At that time, the user could decide to update this function or not.
It is worth remembering that in the European Union when we talk about the integration of Messenger and WhatsApp, the case is different due to the region’s data protection regulations. However, the union of Instagram and Facebook has also been applied in some markets. The latest development has not been announced for the moment in some countries and we will have to see what will happen.
