Facebook's 'mega merger' begins, Instagram and Messenger chats being integrated
What's the story
More than a year ago, Facebook had announced the audacious plan of merging the underlying infrastructure of its key messaging products - Instagram direct messages, Messenger, and WhatsApp. The decision was a subject of major criticism back then. But now, regardless of all that, the social network appears to be moving ahead with it. Here is all you need to know about it.
Development
Instagram DMs and Messenger chats being integrated
Since last night, a number of Instagram users have been seeing an update screen promising 'a new way to message' on the photo-sharing service. It appears on launching the DMs section of the app, displaying the logo of Instagram and Messenger together, and lists down new features like colorful look for your chats, more emoji reactions, swipe-to-reply, and chat with friends who use Facebook.
Change
How the update changes Instagram?
Once you hit the 'Update' button at the bottom of the pop-up screen, Instagram gets a tweaked interface, with the Messenger logo appearing on the top-right corner instead of the old Instagram DMs button, The Verge reported. Then, the chats also take a new color as the sender's messages shift between shades of blue and purple upon scrolling.
Caveat
Option to message Facebook users not working
While the new interface improves the experience of Instagram and adds handy functions, the big option to message friends on Facebook Messenger remains missing. Still, this seems to indicate that the Mark Zuckerberg-led social network has started making necessary server-side changes to integrate the chat systems of the services it has operated separately for so many years.
Goal
Ultimate goal to enable cross platform texting
With this work, followed by WhatsApp's integration at a later stage, Facebook will ultimately create a single unified ecosystem for cross-platform messaging. This way, the apps themselves will continue to remain separate, but users from one platform would be able to message those on the other. So, imagine yourself being able to ping someone using Messenger or Instagram through WhatsApp.