Facebook Celebrates 10 Years of Messenger By Gifting It New Features: What Are They?

Facebook, Inc. FB announced a slew of new features to Messenger to mark the tenth anniversary of its first messaging app.

What Happened: Facebook Messenger will have ten new product features, with most of them starting to roll out Wednesday, the company said.

The social media giant introduced "Poll Games" on Messenger, which will help users discover what their friends think about topics. To use the feature in a group chat, one needs to tap Polls and select "Most Likely To" tab to pick a question and select the names of the chat participants.

The company also announced for its U.S. users an option to receive cash gifts directly through Messenger. When a user receives cash gifts for their birthday, they will be notified on Messenger and Facebook. On confirming the Facebook Pay details, the cash gift will be deposited into the receiver's bank account.

Facebook also announced birthday expression tools, including a new birthday chat theme and a specially curated "Messenger is 10!" sticker pack. Users can now send a birthday song Soundmoji and use a message effect to add a burst of confetti.

Messenger users can now easily share Facebook contacts with friends by selecting the contact to be shared, accessing the chat setting and tapping "Share Contact" under the "More Actions" section.

Facebook offered a glimpse into "Word Effects," a new way to pair words with emojis that have a meaning to a particular user and their friends.

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Why It's Important: Facebook Messenger app revenues have increased notably from $4.01 million in 2019 to $14.78 million in 2020, according to Statista. The number pales in comparison with WhatsApp's revenue contribution, which was at $5.5 billion for 2020. WhatsApp is a Facebook-owned sibling messaging app to Messenger.

That said, the strong acceleration in growth seen for Messenger promises better times ahead.

Facebook is experimenting to bring voice and video call features to Messenger and is also working on making Messenger encrypted by default, Stan Chudnovsky, who oversees Facebook Messenger, reportedly revealed in a media call.

At last check, Facebook shares were up 0.91% at $368.82.

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