Facebook has become one of the most influential organizations in the entire world. Founded in 2004 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the website grew from a college social networking service to a global leader in advertising, media, and so much more. Though Facebook has certainly come under scrutiny for account privacy, “fake news,” and company governance, they still have upwards of 2.3 billion monthly active users.
Facebook isn’t going anywhere.
According to Venture Beat, Facebook has announced numerous new updates that will improve the user experience for both personal and professional accounts.
Ahead of its annual F8 developer conference in San Jose, California, Facebook announced Project LightSpeed, which is a completely rebuilt Messenger app that will be more than two-thirds smaller than the existing program — with the ability to launch in less than two seconds.
These new updates are great for the average user, but marketers will be able to use to interact with their employees, network, and engage with customers. Since up to 20% of the population moves each year, companies have 20% new customers to attract via local and digital advertising.
Currently, there are 40 million active businesses and 300,000 developers on Facebook’s Messenger app, up from 200,000 developers a year ago. The revamped version will allow users to book appointments, collect information through lead generation chatbot templates, and provide customer service to verified customers. The ability to offer quality customer service is crucial since 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated.
“We believe you can build practically any utility on top of messaging,” said Stan Chudnovsky, Facebook’s head of Messenger. “All of the engineering behind it is has been redone. Utilities will be more powerful, more functional and more desired if built on top of a system that’s interoperable and end-to-end encrypted.”
Additionally, since video sharing is vital to Facebook’s success, the new app will feature improved video services for users. In a 2017 report, 81% of marketers said they optimize social videos for mobile. The new Messenger will enable video co-watching, meaning users can select videos to watch at the same time with friends, coworkers, customers, and influencers.
“We are working to be world class for our community for the primary things that people expect in a messaging app,” added Asha Sharma, director for Messenger consumer products. “We will make Messenger fast, private, interoperable, and a space for close friends and family.”
The company hasn’t given a specific launch date for Project LightSpeed but users can expect this new messaging program sometime in 2019.
