Get ready for a big change on Facebook Messenger, as the company is reportedly going to allow ads on the app in a few months' time during the second quarter of 2016.
Currently, businesses take advantage of the messaging app to communicate with customers, and when this "feature" rolls out, a particular company will also be able to send targeted ads as messages to anyone who has started a chat with it.
According to TechCrunch, it got ahold of a document from a verified source that outlines this plan, which it kept secret for protection purposes. The report advises businesses to get as many customers as they can to start chatting them up so that they'll have the option to send ads when this update goes live.
More to the point, Facebook is also going to let businesses use custom short links that'll automatically start a chat when it's clicked. It'll look something like this: fb.com/msg/companyname. To put two and two together, this is an easy way for companies to get people to let them send ads.
Facebook confirmed this custom URL option, essentially verifying the authenticity of the document and the upcoming update.
However, there's no need to get those pitchforks out yet, though. It's still unclear whether this will launch or not, especially when the majority of Facebook's 800 million monthly active users dislike it and speak out. On top of that, the ads could be easily disabled, but that's not set in stone either.
At any rate, Facebook has set some restrictions as well, where businesses won't be allowed to send ads to anyone who merely liked their Pages. In other words, the social media company is just letting businesses send more details of their items to the people who are genuinely interested in their products and services.
This is arguably Facebook monetizing the popular messaging app, even though Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he doesn't "personally think ads are the right way to monetize messaging" during an earnings call when the company acquired WhatsApp in 2014.
Apparently, he changed his mind.
In other Messenger-related news – good news, to be exact – the app could soon let users send text messages on it. At least that shows that Facebook is really out to "create a high quality, engaging experience for 800 million people around the world."
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
