Facebook Flip-Flops on Messenger After WhatsApp Acquisition

It was just four months ago that Facebook updated its standalone messaging app, Messenger, with the goal of making the user experience more like texting

That task appears to be easier said than done. Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of messaging app WhatsApp on Wednesday effectively confirmed that Messenger didn't live up to the task, at least not outside the U.S

With the acquisition, Facebook has started preaching a very different strategy for Messenger than was outlined just four months ago

With the Messenger update in October, Facebook opened messaging to all its users' mobile contacts, not just those on Messenger. Users needed only to add their phone numbers within the app. Messenger was redesigned to look like a standard text message inbox, and messages were delivered more quickly than before, according to Facebook product managers Read more...