Facebook is continuing its assault on SMS and quest to become the only messaging app you use today by expanding its “contact via phone number” feature to Messenger for iOS. The option launched on Android to a select set of testers at the end of October, and is being pushed to all Androiders as well as all iOS users. The update is rolling out now and also brings a cleaner layout, and faster start-up and navigation.
The intent is clear. As I detailed last month, Facebook doesn't want you to have to switch to SMS to contact someone who you have the phone number of but aren't friends with. It's watched as startup messaging apps like WeChat and KakaoTalk that rely on phone numbers rise to huge user counts. The move could box them out, if it's not too late.
WeChat is thought to have over 200M users, while its Chinese parent company Tencent's desktop messaging service QQ is said to over 800 million active users. WhatsApp is thought to have somewhere between 250 million and 350 million users, while KakaoTalk is said to have over 90 million. Then there's sticker-messaging app Line, and Snapchat, which sees about as many daily photo uploads and which the Wall Street Journal today said refused a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook.
This degree of fragmentation is dangerous for Facebook, which thrives on having all your friends in one place. Messaging generates a ton of user engagment and return visits, plus also helps companies build an accurate social graph of who you talk to most. That's important data Facebook needs to refine its News Feed relevancy algorithm and ad targeting.
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