Facebook has merged Instagram and Messenger so that users of both apps can chat like they were on one app.
That is, you can now chat with a friend on Facebook using Instagram’s messaging tool.
The upgrade, of course, suggests that Instagram will have to be tweaked.
Facebook will remodel Instagram’s DM system with major features taken from Messenger.
Messaging features like selfie stickers, disappearing messages, emojis and chat colours will come with the upgrade.
More features would include a way to block unwelcome chats, and Messenger’s watch together feature.
The watch together feature allows users to watch videos as a group while on a video call.
In case it crossed your mind, users can decline updates if they don’t want them.
But getting the new features will depend on the update so you might reconsider.
In fact, you could decide to stop using the features if you wanted to.
Facebook has an opt-out feature in provision.
Besides the new inter messaging upgrade, users can also run cross searches on the app.
In other words, you can search for peoples’ profiles on both apps at the same time.
For now, Facebook is testing the new feature in select locales before it begins to roll out slowly.
An exact date, on the other hand, hasn’t been communicated by the company.
As at last year, Chief Executive Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that he planned to connect the three messaging apps.
The apps, of course, include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
He noted that users were talking more privately than they used to.
While adding that it was a difference from how people posted publicly on their walls in the past.
In light of connecting all three apps, there is no public timeline for when WhatsApp will be integrated.
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The problem of regulators
Lawmakers and regulators might be a problem for Facebook’s plan to merge all three apps.
As it is, they already believe it is a plot by Mark to stop the system from separating Facebook.
When Mark announced his plan to integrate the apps in 2019, co-founder Chris Hughes asked that the company be separated.
According to Hughes, Facebook had become a monopoly preventing users from trying out other competitors.
Authorities also believe Facebook has nullified rival threats by acquiring them in the past.
Hence, the reason Facebook is under thorough antitrust probe.
Only last month, Mark Zuckerberg was questioned by the Federal Trade Commission to find out if he had broken antitrust laws.
Besides regulator problems, integrating WhatsApp might also pose a barrier.
The barrier stems from the app’s end-to-end encryption service with infrastructure being the main challenge.
What are your thoughts about merging all three apps?
We’d like to hear your view in the comments.
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