Facebook Messenger Crosses 1.3 Billion Users

I still remember how many people disliked Facebook’s decision to unbundle messaging from its core mobile app. It launched a separate Facebook Messenger app that enabled users to chat with their friends and family on Facebook. The social network had a larger vision for Messenger and we’ve seen that being revealed to us in the past couple of years. Facebook Messenger is a hit now and its rise continues. Messenger has crossed 1.3 billion users globally.

It’s safe to say that Facebook Messenger is the top cross-platform messaging app available today with its 1.3 billion users. It has added over 100 million new users in five months because the last we heard from the Messenger team was in April when it had 1.2 billion users.

Facebook Messenger may be approaching saturation in key markets. It needed six months to rise up from 800 million users to 1 billion. It then needed 9 months to go from there to 1.2 billion. Facebook Messenger has added 100 million users in the past five months.

Facebook will certainly be looking for growth opportunities in other markets across the globe, places where Messenger isn’t as popular as it would like it to be. In core markets, it’s now a matter of focusing more on retaining existing users as it approaches saturation.

The closest competitors aren’t owned by Facebook which also owns WhatsApp, a global phenomenon in its own right. The closest competitor is China-based WeChat which had less than a billion users in May this year.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Facebook, facebook messenger