Users across both Facebook Messenger and Instagram will be able to message each other as of Wednesday, the social media company has revealed.
Bloomberg reports that Facebook introduced the step as part of its plans to fully integrate the company's three social media services, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The move comes as the company has publicly considered adding Messenger back to Facebook's main app to avoid forcing users to download separate apps. Originally, Messenger was included on the Facebook app, but it was seperated into a seperate app in 2014.
Facebook CEO and cursed human being Mark Zuckerberg first revealed his plan to merge all the services in 2019, stressing how it would benefit customers by making it easier to contact users on other services. Eventually, the plan is to allow users to message an even bigger selection of people across varying social media and messaging apps.
Users first started receiving the ability to send DMs between Messenger and Instagram earlier this year, although now it will be rolling out to all users in the next few weeks. The introduction comes without the option to chat securely via a "secret chat," as that encryption isn't available on Instagram just yet. WhatsApp, however, already encrypts all messages, so Facebook will likely need to allow that functionality across all its platforms in the future.
"The full timeline is quite a bit out—we are not at the half point yet," said Messenger Vice President Stan Chudnovsky. "It’ll take a while. It’s not like a year from now we are sitting here and all of it is set and done."
People on social media weren't exactly pleased with the news.
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