Facebook is not everyone's favorite. The social network service is one complicated services bundled into one massive core service.
Facebook has tried "unbundling the big blue app" by separating the likes of Messenger. And on June 24th, 2015, Facebook is going further by giving Messenger a new home.
By giving Messenger a new priority, users don't need a Facebook account to use Messenger at all.
The move is surprising because both Facebook and Messenger are two of the most popular service the social network has to offer. The two have been symbolic that both service complement one another. If you want to see new updates from friends, Facebook's main service is the option, but when you reach them, Messenger is the way to go.
Both are relying in one another to make one big experience. But Facebook has another thing in mind.
A New Home, More Space to Grow and Thrive
Facebook saw that tying both product is indeed powerful. But it can also be a disadvantage. Facebook have an increasing number of mobile users, and they're accessing the social network from their mobile devices. More people are writing text messages than they post status updates. To prepare in "becoming the platform of tomorrow", as founder Mark Zuckerberg said when the company acquired Oculus, Facebook needs to unbundle even further.
Beside Oculus, Instagram, acquired by Facebook, has become a social media on its own. WhatsApp, the cross-platform mobile messaging owned by Facebook, is also ideal to run on its own, despite being a competitor to Messenger.
In this form, Facebook is trying to become distinct. By giving its products their own homes, Facebook is trying to reach a more diverse community.
Despite the disadvantage in a long run, Facebook is still giving the benefit when users are linking both Facebook's main app and Messenger. "For those who have Facebook accounts, there are many benefits to using your Facebook credentials when signing up for Messenger," explains Facebook engineer Louis Boval in a post.
With Messenger living on the web at Messenger.com, "People can easily message with their Facebook friends and contacts, access their Facebook messages and take advantage of multi-device messaging across mobile devices, the web and tablets."
Messenger as well, especially now that it lives in the browser at messenger.com.
What remains a question to most people is that, Facebook's aim to make Messenger a social media, means that it wants to boost the number of its users. That is a great move for the social network, if it isn't running WhatsApp.
To put it down to numbers, WhatsApp boasts 800,000,000 monthly active users as of April 2015. Meanwhile, Messenger has 600,000,000 as of March 2015.
Keeping both up and running, playing the same role but boasting different brand, seems to lead to redundancy. And some also stated that it can also be cannibalization.
But that is not how Facebook sees them. The company viewed the two as complementary that support one another. WhatsApp is what Facebook wants to be a "bare" messaging system, with users coming mostly from Asia, South America and Europe. Messenger is a contrast to that. It offers much more features, with users coming mostly from the U.S..
And by giving the two the chance to grow on their own, Facebook is giving them the opportunity to thrive in their own markets, in their own will, in their own way.
As A Way To Introduce Facebook
Facebook is big, and nonetheless successful. But not everyone loves it, and that's why it wants to be given another chance. At 600 million monthly users, Messenger is already huge. But to beat the market its playing on, it needs ubiquity. This will help Messenger to get users that never wanted to join Facebook, or those that for some reasons had quit Facebook.
In developing countries where Facebook is trying to reach more people with its Internet.org initiative, SMS is still a popular way of sending messages. Messenger is Facebook's first mean of introduction for an alternative of SMS, and that in hopes would eventually lead to their first taste of Facebook.
"The only way we can grow in those markets is for people who aren't on Facebook to be able to join" said Head of Messenger David Marcus. "We don't want to stop until everyone is on the platform because it makes for such a better experience when you know you can find everyone."