Facebook
used its F8 developer conference to announce two significant developments for
Facebook Messenger: the introduction of the Messenger Platform and the preview
of Businesses on Messenger. Together with last week’s announcement that the
social network had added a P2P payments capability to Facebook Messenger, the
F8 news confirms Ovum’s long-held view that Facebook Messenger is aiming to
become Facebook’s key mobile platform for content and commerce as well as communications.
This is as opposed to Facebook’s other mobile messaging services, WhatsApp and
Instagram; WhatsApp has consistently stated that it does not intend to become a
platform for content delivery, while Instagram has remained tightly focused on
the sharing of photos and videos.
Facebook’s decision to open up its APIs to Facebook
Messenger to third-party developers for the creation of content and apps is a
vital step in the evolution of the messaging service which has, to date, lagged
behind competitive offerings from the likes of Line, Kakao and Tencent
(WeChat). Ovum understands that, despite monthly active users now standing at
600 million, user engagement with Facebook Messenger has fallen since the
decoupling of the mobile app from the social network in 2014. By making the
Messenger Platform available to developers for the creation of apps that are
designed to enhance the user experience, Facebook aims to once again increase
engagement.
The apps that are initially available via the Messenger
Platform are still quite limited by comparison to those offered by Line, Kakao
and WeChat, in that they are mainly focused on enabling Facebook Messenger
users to add GIFs, photos, videos, audio clips and content to their messages.
It’s likely that Facebook has chosen to limit its initial offerings in order to
gauge the extent to which such services will be popular globally; it’s also
possible that the social network will provide localized apps at a later stage.
However, it’s still a solid start for Facebook, which states that it already
has more than 40 developer partners for Messenger Platform, including ESPN,
Giphy, JibJab, Meme Generator, Stickered, The Weather Channel and Wordeo.
Given Facebook Messenger’s 600 million MAUs – an
increase of 100 million since November 2014 - Facebook will have no shortage of
interest from developers, which means that it won’t be long before there will
be a substantial expansion in both the number and the types of apps that will
be available for Facebook Messenger. Developers will be able to tap into a
viral marketing capability via the platform – a message that contains content
from a third-party app will also include information about the app and an
install button. A key challenge for Facebook will be ensuring that the apps
that are associated with the Facebook Messenger platform are high-quality apps
that will engage the interest of users.
It appears that most of the apps that are initially
available on Facebook Messenger are free to download, which will help promote
user uptake. The ability for developers to reach a massive audience, combined
with their capacity to include in-app purchasing, should negate any concerns
they may have about not being able to directly generate revenues. There is also
the possibility that paid-for apps will appear in future iterations.
Meanwhile, Facebook has taken a slightly different
approach from the Messenger rivals for the Businesses on Messenger capability.
Instead of providing businesses with Twitter-like ‘Official Accounts’ (as per
Line) - which initially enabled marketing and promotions, and then added
payments - Facebook focusing on the customer relationship aspect of
transactions. The company is integrating the ability for businesses to
communicate with customers via Messenger into their existing online purchasing
process. But since Facebook clearly has ambitions in payments, it is difficult
to see how the integration of communications won’t be a lead-in to the eventual
integration of some kind of fully-fledged commerce offering.
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