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![R E A D](<h2>Introducing Facebook Messenger 4</h2>
Back at it's F8 developer conference in May of this year, <a href="http://facebook.com">Facebook</a> has confirmed that it has begun the rollout of the new-look Messenger as of this week. We had recently heard rumblings that some people had already had a glimpse of the new version in the wild as so this confirmation makes sense from timing point of view.
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In Facebook's own words:
<em>"In a recent Messenger study, 71% of people told us that simplicity is the top priority for them in a messaging app. Among people surveyed who are messaging more frequently, 62% say messaging makes them feel closer to their friends. We believe Messenger 4 delivers the closeness and authenticity that you’ve been asking for - through simplicity of design and powerful features that put the focus back on messaging and connecting."</em>
We noted that they're now referring to it as 'Messenger 4' after having never previously given it more than a behind the scenes version number. Perhaps this signifies the way Facebook intends to label it's products moving forward?
<h2>A tidier place to chat</h2>
Either way it seems as though Messenger is destined to become a tidier, more streamlined experience now after many felt it had become bogged down with new ideas and tools being added with no real place to put them. As far as we understand all this stuff is still on board it's just now in neat cupboards as opposed to spread across the dinner table!
The first thing most users will notice (and probably realise they have a new version of Facebook Messenger on their device) is the reduction from 5 to 3 tabs along the bottom of the screen:
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-240" src="https://www.imagematters.agency/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-24-at-15.32.16.png" alt="Facebook New Messenger tabs" width="565" height="113" />
We've also noticed a reduced emphasis on Messenger Stories as well although this may just be moved elsewhere. Stories are generally better used as a <a href="https://www.imagematters.agency/articles/instagram-for-business-best-practices-2018/">best practice on Instagram</a> anyway. Facebook note:
<em>"For hundreds of millions of people every day who share pictures and videos, Messenger 4 will have visual communication features like Camera at the top so you can easily capture and share your selfies."</em>
<h2>Make it pretty</h2>
Facebook Messenger has also received upgrades to your colour controls enabling users to customise gradients for the backgrounds of their speech bubbles:
<em>"You can see the colors change from red to blue, for example, as you scroll up and down a conversation. Color gradients can be changed any time to reflect your mood or topic of conversation."</em>
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-241" src="https://www.imagematters.agency/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Screen-Shot-2018-10-24-at-15.39.40.png" alt="Facebook Messenger New Colour Gradients" width="590" height="328" />
As mentioned above, as far as we know, everything you use in messenger is still there, it's just all been moved about and tidied up along with the new bells and whistles thrown in as well. Early indications say there will be a very minor learning curve to the new UI but nothing that anyone (bar the biggest technophobes that probably don't use the app anyway) will take more than a few minutes to get their head round.
<h2>So many faces in this book now!</h2>
At the last count, Facebook Messenger currently sits at a comfortable user base of 1.3 billion active users. Just something to note if you are interested in learning more about how to use social media and Messenger in your marketing efforts (because they can, and with great reach and success rates)
If you'd like to learn more about how Facebook and Messenger can be of benefit to your business, do feel free to <a href="https://www.imagematters.agency/contact/">get in touch</a>. We'd love to chat and even better <a href="https://www.imagematters.agency/services/social/">help you out with your Social Media strategy</a> going forward.){kind=link}