Facebook took a lot of flak when it started forcing everybody to download the standalone Facebook Messenger app if they wanted to chat with their friends. That feature was removed from the native Facebook app so users had no other option. Despite all the criticism Facebook stood its ground and now its taking Messenger even further. Today the social network launched a standalone web browser version of Facebook Messenger but don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to chat with your friends when you’re mindlessly scrolling through your timeline.
The web browser version is purely for connecting Facebook users with their friends. It serves no other purpose right now. If you want to scroll through the News Feed you will have to launch another tab and open facebook.com.
Messenger on the web is essentially the same experience that you get on a mobile device. You’re able to send pictures, stickers and what not. Though it’s not currently possible to record and send voice messages using the web version, a feature that has been available for quite some time on the Messenger mobile apps.
A spokesperson for the company tells Recode that the idea here isn’t to remove the chat functionality from facebook.com and force users to open another tab if they want to chat with a friend.
The idea is to eliminate all other distractions that can get in the way of a simple conversation. So if you’d like to chat with friends without being bothered by notifications of people commenting and liking your posts head on over to Messenger.com.
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