I've seen some recent polls where most responses said that Facebook Messenger was their preferred method of communication. Given that the poll was on Facebook, I still think it's reflective of many of my peer's (people raised with the internet) opinions. It's less of a context switch than going to email or some other method of communication. As Messenger's trajectory increases (see also: their features in response to Chinese messaging apps), it becomes more and more apparent why Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp was a great idea.
This standalone Messenger app also widens business opportunities. A few days ago I was looking at suits on Bonobos and had a question about their construction that wasn't answered on the product page. I didn't immediately see a live chat link and I didn't feel like writing an email on a Sunday, so I messaged their Facebook page my question. They got back to me with a lengthy response in less than an hour. An interface like messenger.com makes it even easier to have asynchronous, almost-live customer service via Facebook messenger. It certainly made an impression on me.
Anyways, this is cool. Facebook's brightest days are still ahead of them.
Huh. I just found out about Goofy (http://www.goofyapp.com/) a few days ago as I was looking to break the chat out of Facebook as I don't use it much otherwise, but this may work just as well.
This standalone Messenger app also widens business opportunities. A few days ago I was looking at suits on Bonobos and had a question about their construction that wasn't answered on the product page. I didn't immediately see a live chat link and I didn't feel like writing an email on a Sunday, so I messaged their Facebook page my question. They got back to me with a lengthy response in less than an hour. An interface like messenger.com makes it even easier to have asynchronous, almost-live customer service via Facebook messenger. It certainly made an impression on me.
Anyways, this is cool. Facebook's brightest days are still ahead of them.